unusual meeting
by abodo
Summary: The Yagami household is befriended by a rather odd boy. Soon, he and his family are entangled in the world of magic and lost logia's. Watch how this unusual meeting turns into a spiral of fate for those involved.
1. Random recipe: Shamal's meeting

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I was reading through the Nanoha section of and found some very interesting titles that got me a bit motivated. I've been itching to use this OC I've  
had in mind for quite some time now.

It was a snowy November as a blonde woman with green eyes, white dress and coat stood along the produce aisles of a grocery store. I'm quite sure the people of this fandom would know that this woman is one of the Wolkenritter serving the tome of the night sky under the name Shamal. She was usually the one taking care of the other three members of the Wolkenritter, patching up wounds, cleaning the house, cooking meals and doing the shopping so this should be no big issue but the store was a tadbit foreign to her. Even after six years of living with their mistress Hayate, she had not seemed to be able to adapt well to the world she was now in, at least she was trying. The others seemed as comfortable as could be but she knew they were still unused to the peace. For all the blonde woman knew, they're time hear may as well be a dream.

"Still, we can at least enjoy this time", Shamal smiled. It wasn't long till her smile faded though. "Oh which one should I get?", she asked herself. "I should have remembered how Hayate could tell the good from the bad", the knight of the lake was currently trying to figure how to tell good vegetables from bad. As stated above, Shamal was the one usually handling the shopping but besides cases of emergencies, Hayate had avoided letting the blonde knight pick produce as it had something to do with her cooking skills. She kept one hand on her shopping basket while the other one touched her face, it gave her a somewhat worried thinking look. "I think these look good", she plucked up a couple of cucumbers, carrots, a pumpkin, some potatoes, bakchoy, onions and garlic.

"You should be more careful with what you pick miss", a voice came from behind and startled the blonde knight.

It was a boy, clearly younger than her but he towered over her by about three or five inches. He wore huge spectacles which glared with light so she couldn't see his eyes. He was wearing a roughed up jacket with patches sawn on here and there. Underneath those were a dirty white sweater, denim pants and a multi-colored scarf of red, black and yellow. It was topped off with brown boots and the most untidy mop of black she had ever seen for hair.

"What?", she exclaimed mildly in surprise at his sudden intervention and the height difference.

"Picking vegetables is a very troublesome business. Sometimes it's like looking for gold.", he said reaching into the blonde's shopping basket.

"Uh um", Shamal flushed a bit as the stranger got awkwardly close for comfort in an attempt to reach her basket. She stepped back but almost as soon as she did, the stranger would step forward to keep the basket in reach.

"Nope, not this", he put back the cucumber in its proper place. "Nor this", he took out the pumpkin and put it back. "Cucumber is sometimes hard to deal with and seeing as I've never seen you in this store before I'm sure you don't frequent this place often enough to know their cucumbers usually turn out bitter. The pumpkin on the other hand was a good choice but looking through the pre-chopped ones might be a better idea seeing as you can more or less figure the quality from the inside's color, not to mention they have a sale on that right now", he began rambling to the blonde. "What were you trying to make anyway miss?", the tall boy asked the confused woman.

"Um uh... I wasn't sure myself but I think a nice warm soup would be great for the cold weather.", Shamal explained to the stranger without really thinking that it was none of his business.

"Well, I guess the pumpkin would be quite alright in that case.", the boy picked three of the pumpkins cut in half, as oppossed to Shamal's choice of one whole, and placed it in her basket. "How many are you?", he asked her again.

"Um six?", she almost stuttered. 'Who was this kid?', the knight wondered.

"Those pumpkins should be enough to make soup. Here take these", he placed a carton of milk and a block of quickmelt cheese into the woman's basket before she could protest.

"You should try boiling the pumpkin with water and a bit of sugar until the pumpkin softens, then puree it in a food processor, after that you should let it cook in a cualdron or something. while it's cooking, add some milk, preferably a in a two to one ratio. Grate the cheese and add some, its mostly personal preference but I rather like it cheesy so I put a fifth of that block you got there with that amount of pumpkins then let it cook for about another hour. Oh and don't forget to add salt for flavor as well as shrimps if you like", the boy instructed her.

Even though the instructions came at an understandable rate, Shamal still found herself dazed by this boy who had just come up to her, replaced her grocery basket's contents and was teaching her recipes. 'Seriously, someone tell me who this guy is', Shamal thought to herself. She then noticed the boy was talking still.

"-atoes are wonderful for broth soups while the bakchoy is quite nice for stir fry with salt and garlic for flavor. I hope I was able to help", he began to walk away from her with intent to continue his shopping.

"Uh wait!", Shamal called out to him but he didn't seem to hear.

He turned by an aisle and when she followed him at the turn he was nowhere in sight. She looked at her watch and was surprised at the time. "It's half-past six! Everyone must be hungry by now".

When Shamal had reached home, everyone else was indeed hungry. She made dinner since Hayate was still out for the TSAB, much to everyone's dismay. In an hour and a half later.

"Ah I'm sorry for the delay everyone, dinner is served", Shamal sunily smiled.

Vita almost couldn't contain her grimace. "When will Hayate get home?", she whined for the others but not Shamal to hear.

"Oh don't worry I'm sure it's just this once", Reinforce II chirped, though not quite as enthusiastic as usual. Yes, Shamal's cooking had that effect on people.

The sound of keys turning opening a lock and the closing of the door seconds later could be heard. "Everyone I'm home", the voice of their mistress, Yagami Hayate came from the living room.

Signum looked at the immature red-head we know as Vita and said, "Well she's here".

In five minutes they were all sitting at the dinner table, ready to partake of the poison- erm... I mean food, Shamal had made for them. "Please eat", she gestured.

It took everyone a few seconds to eat. They had somehow made up a system whenever Shamal made dinner. Each one of them had to take a turn and eat the dinner. Needless to say this would be very unpleasant and would most likely cause harm to the one eating, but sacrifices had to be made for the greater good.

This time it was Vita's turn. She steeled herself as she took a spoonful of the odd yellow goop like soup Shamal had made. She steeled her nerves and plunged the spoon of yellow soup to her mouth. For a few seconds nothing happened. Those few seconds extended to minutes.

Finally Signum, who was sitting beside the miniature knight took action and shook her by the shoulder asking, "Vita, are you alright?".

The response was not quite expected. Vita's chair tipped backwards and she fell with it stiff as a board with spoon still in her mouth and all.

* * *

Right after dinner Shamal was still washing the dishes. "Oh I messed up again", she hung her head. She had thrown out the dinner when the others skipped and took care of Vita. She couldn't believe it, she had full faith that the dinner she made then would taste alright. She even followed that strange boy's recipe.

Back in Hayate's room where ther rest of the wolkenritter and Hayate took refuge- again I meant, to look after Vita.

"Vita-chan! Vita-chan! Come back to us!", Reinforce II cried into the unconscious little knight.

"Will she be okay?", Signum asked Hayate.

"She'll be alright. She's the iron knight after all", Hayate smiled.

"It's a bit cramped.", Zafira mentioned as they were all standing by Hayate's bed where Vita was lying down.

"Bear with it", Signum told him with her naturally commanding tone, yeah it must've been nice to be the leader.

"Gwaaagh!", Vita awoke with a start.

Hayate immediately embraced Vita and started cooing along with running her hands down the little red head's braids to calm her down. "It's alright Vita. We're here for you", she calmed the little red head.

"That... was... the... first... time... ever... in... all... of... my... existence... to... taste... something... like... that...", Vita panted between each word.

"Oh come Vita, it couldn't have been that bad", Signum told the little red head.

"You're right, it wasn't", Vita looked away from them.

"See?", Signum put a hand to the little knight's shoulder to comfort her. She did look like she needed it.

"It was actually good", Vita murmered.

The room went dead for around twenty seconds. Another five seconds one mage, one knight, one unison device and one guardian beast could be found unconscious on Hayate's carpeted room floor.

POST NOTES: This might earn me flames or reviews, either way is fine by me as long as its helpful. Thanks to all who read this through.(waves) Anyway I don't own  
Nanoha in case you guys are looking for the disclaimer. I am but a fan, maybe. I did watch the whole series, oh well. Whatever works.


	2. dinner and date: the others meeting

PRE-NOTES: A second chapter, don't own the d00ds and d00dettes in this fic cept the OC guy nuff' said. Thanks for the review kirayamato1992

* * *

Well, it had come down to this. Hayate brushed one hand through her neck length brown hair. Lunch time and still no guy to accompany her to the Inter-school junior leader's meeting. She had been chosen as the female representative, the issue at hand was that it was required for each to bring a counterpart of sorts. Basically she had to pick a guy to go with her because the one who was chosen to be the male counterpart suddenly said he had something more important on schedule that day. She tried to ask others but they all ran away as soon as she uttered the words to invite them. Her dating history had always ended up with her being stood up, why did that have to carry over now.

It was after school and truly the last chance the mage had. She said goodbye to her friends, Nanoha, Fate, Arisa and Suzuka, ran from classroom to classroom asking for anyone, but none would hear it. At last she gave up and retired to her own classroom. As soon as she entered, she was greeted with an empty classroom of nothing but setting sunlight that filtered through the curtains. It was after school so no surprise. The clunking sound of wood hitting wood reached her ears and attracted her attention. From her troubles, Hayate focused now upon the only other person in the classroom. between the rows of chairs stood one of the tallest boys in her class.

His name is Aoi Sora, towering over her by several inches. He was currently in the male uniform with a school emblem matching hers. In case you're curious, the uniform consisted of a brown blazer with beige slacks, red tie, white polo shirt and black school shoes. His hair was a mess as usual, spectacles that hid his eyes were also present. He was a walking irony really, sporting the nerdy look with a lean athletic build. It suddenly hit Hayate. He was perfect for this, a little make-over was needed, but perfect still.

"Aoi-san!", Hayate called to him.

He was half-way through picking up pieces of his shop-class project, which he dropped, when Hayate came in the classroom. "Yagami-san if I recall correctly?", the lanky boy spoke in an overly respectful tone.

This kinda put Hayate a bit off. Only the original Reinforce and the Wolkenritter, when they had just met, ever spoke to her like that. "Umm yes", she proceeded unsurely.

Sora took his time to fit the project pieces into his bag. He was waiting for the girl to speak since she started the conversation but that seemed to not work. "How may I help you Yagami-san?", he faced her.

Hayate nearly forgot and mentally bonked herself for forgetting. She blamed the awkward atmosphere. For some reason people always felt awkward around Sora, they couldn't really tell why but they did. Hayate brightened up and asked him, "It's really sudden but I was thinking if you could accompany me as the male representative of our school in the Inter-school junior leader's meeting tomorrow?".

The reply was immediate and cut clear through all doubt. "I'm sorry, but I have other business to attend to", he apologized.

Hayate was afraid he'd say that. Aoi Sora was sort of an enigma here at the school. He just transferred here at the start of the year, he never joined any clubs, always went home early, had been absent from school for a number of times but his grades were top notch, work ethic was most commendable and conduct nothing short of spotless. Yes, he was definitely a walking irony.

"But I really need someone to accompany me", Hayate pleaded.

"I am also needed at my business", Sora looked down.

Hayate identified what he was going through was shame. Shame of what though?

The tall boy looked back up and asked, "Have you tried asking others?".

Hayate tried to not let her fatigue show as she remembered all the running around she did for the past two weeks, looking for someone to act as the male representative. "No one wanted to go with me", she looked down sadly.

"Hmmm", Hayate heard him deep in thought. "I guess I can fix my schedule", he turned to fix his belongings.

"R-really?", Hayate asked surprise. That was quick and he was rumored to be more stubborn than a mule.

"Yes, I have to know when the meeting is though.", Sora picked up his bag.

"Oh it's at eight", she informed him. "So you'll go?", she asked to make sure she was not hallucinating from stress.

"I'll pick you up at a quarter before seven", he answered her curtly and left.

Hayate stood there, cemented to the floor. "It's going to be a black tie event!", she called after him as the sliding classroom door closed shut. "Yes!", she rejoiced as soon as the sound of footsteps were nowhere to be heard. She had finally found that partner they were pressing her to find. It was last minute but she found one.

--

What the hell was he thinking. This was the one thought that kept running through the mind of Hayate for more than half the day of school. Sora hadn't attended school. Was he going to blow her off like all her previous dates and go to his business? Did he just answer her to get her off his back? No, he didn't seem the type.

"Hayate-chan, your eggs are slipping", nanoha pointed out the omelet dangling dangerously from the tip of Hayate's chopsticks.

"Aaah", Hayate immediately caught the piece with her bento.

"You should be more careful Hayate-chan", Suzuka giggled at the short haired girl.

Hayate sighed. Oh if they only knew of her woes.

--

It was twenty minutes before the clock struck seven in the evening when a knock sounded the door of the Yagami household. The pink-haired leader of the wolkenritter, Signum, was the one to greet the visitor.

"Hello, my name is Aoi Sora. I believe I have an appointment with Yagami-san at this hour about a meeting?", the tall bespectacled boy at their snowy doorstep greeted her.

Signum raised an eyebrow at the boy's attire. It wasn't immaculate but it was passable. A black suit with coat, white dress shirt and crimson tie, pretty standard.

"May I come in?", he asked after she stood there half-glaring at him for a minute.

"please do", Signum gestured for him to enter.

After Sora took off his shoes, the phone by the stairs rang. Signum picked up the ringing gadget and answered, "Hello? Ah Shamal, where are you now? What? You're still there?- Wait". Signum pulled the receiver from her ear and told Sora, "Please go ahead and make yourself at home. I have to speak with this person."

"I understand", Sora answered and went on ahead.

Sora navigated his way through the entrance and walked forward, right into the living room. It was cozy with a couch and TV set, behind it was a dining table. Behind the dining table was a counter marking the kitchen from the rest of the living room.

The sound of barefeet padding against the wooden floor caught the tall boy's attention. He turned around but saw no one. His face looked a bit confused at what could have made that sound. He suddenly saw a blob of red bob up and down from the bottom corner of his vision. He looked down and met his lens covered eyes with the dark blue one of the smallest wolkenritter member.

Vita looked annoyed. Sora assumed that she had just awoken from a nap, considering her wearing an oversized shirt, loose shorts and still clutching/dragging a gosururi style rag doll in her fist. Besides her hair looked a bit disheveled, if Sora had to guess, she usually wore her hair in two braids. Currently, one of the braids was falling apart.

The little red-head glared at the tall teen. Sora met her glare with a perplexed if not neutral gaze.

"Is something wrong?", Signum walked back in.

"Nothing is wrong", Sora replied politely. He turned away from Vita to the pink-haired woman.

"Vita", Signum turned to the little red-head. The red-head turned to her. "Shamal will be out late tonight. We'll have to order take out.", Signum told her.

"but we've had nothing but take outs for a week. Hayate and Shamal are rarely ever home anymore. When will we ever get a home-cooked meal?", Vita complained, not whined, she was so above whining(...not really).

"Stop whining and tell Hayate, inform her that her guest has arrived as well", Signum sighed.

"Fine",Vita huffed and ran up the stairs outside the living room to the second floor.

Sora and Signum were now the only ones left in the room. Signum started and told Sora, "Take a seat".

"Thank you", Sora spoke quite calmly. Inside though he knew, these people did not like him. As the pink-haired woman took her seat, Sora heard a sort off growling from beneath the table by the couches.

It was a rather small and oddly blue-furred puppy. It would've looked cute under normal circumstances, but right now it had the most vicious snarl one could barely imagine to come from something so seemingly cute and harmless. He surely didn't want to see how much damage those little teeth could do.

"So...", Signum began. Sora snapped his gaze back on her and she continued, "I am Signum"

"Aoi Sora", Sora bowed.

Signum was unimpressed with his politeness, "You and Hayate are going out for dinner?".

"Meeting", Sora corrected.

"I see", the leader of the wolkenritter eyed the tall teen warily.

Sora could see that she must have been the man-of-the-house so to speak. Since she was so commanding and wore a more masculine choice of clothes with a white polo shirt, denim pants and red sneakers. No, Sora did not discriminate people by choice of clothes but the pink-haired woman definitely gave off those vibes.

"What activites will entail this meeting?", Signum asked this boy. She wasn't so sure if this boy was trustworthy. His excessively respectful tone was really grating on her nerves as well.

"From what I hear, it will be opened with a speech, the meeting itself concerning inter-school issues and events and then dinner and dancing for last.", Sora mentally checked off from his mind.

'He knows the schedule by heart so he's serious about the meeting', Signum thought to herself. She crossed her arms over her chest. "You shall bring her back home no later than twelve", Signum commanded.

"Of course", Sora smiled at this.

Signum furrowed her eyebrows a bit. She knew this boy was different from all the others who asked Hayate out, they had never failed to scare them off--erm, protect their mistress from them. Why were they failing now? Did this kid never get flustered?. Signum tried to keep on the pressure, "You will treat her with the utmost respect".

"As a lady deserves", Sora nodded pleasantly. His face had an amused look to it which further annoyed Signum. She definitely didn't like this boy.

"And if you da-"

"Signum!", ran down from the stairs effectively cutting off the pink-haired woman's instructions.

"What is it Vita?", Signum saw the little red-head chargning at them more urgently than a bull who saw red.

"Hayate said we don't have money right now", Vita cried.

This alarmed the pink-haired woman and quickly took the 7-year-old looking girl by the shoulders. "We're broke? What about her uncle?", Signum asked.

"No, she meant that the money is in the bank. Right now we haven't got any money in the house. Hayate was planning to withdraw some tomorrow.", Vita panicked. "Hayate is in her room now, trying to see if anyone can make dinner for us, if not she said she'd drop the meeting", Vita added.

"She can't. She's worked too hard for this", Signum was deep in thought. Vita on the other hand was still panicking.

"Hey", a voice broke them from their brainstorming. They looked up and saw Sora standing over them. "What do you want to eat?", he asked them.

"Wha-?", they both thought. The overly respectful tone in his voice and neutral expression was gone. In its place was a serious one, one that commanded a certain level of respect rivaling even that of Signum's.

Ater the bit of silence, someone finally spoke up again. "Pork cutlet", Vita demanded.

"Is that all?", Sora asked.

"Mmm", Vita nodded.

"Signum-san", Sora refered to the woman who kneeling-still in front of the little red-head.

"I'll need your kitchen and a bit of your ingredients", Sora stated more than asked.

"Um... sure", this boy was just freaking her out now. He knew what he was doing, that much she could gather in his expression. Right now if he was going to do what she thought he was going to do then, he was the last chance they had to eat and get Hayate to that meeting.

"Chibi-nee-chan", Sora called Vita.

Vita was looking around. "She meant you Vita", Signum sighed as she got up.

Vita glared at the tall teen who had shed his coat and suit jacket, as well as folded up his sleeves with tie and collar undone. "What?", Vita glared at being called chibi-nee-chan.

"What is Yagami-san doing now?", Sora took off his glasses and placed something in his eyes.

"She had just gotten out of the bath and was wondering whether you'd come or not.", Vita told him.

"So I have around twenty minutes.", Sora spoke as he scavenged the pantries and refrigerator for ingredients. "Please tell Yagami-san to not worry and finish getting dressed.", Sora stated as he sorted through what he got his hands on and began chopping ingredients at speeds Signum would have been envious of with her sword.

"I'll go", the leader of the wolkenritter told them. "Can you watch him Vita?", she asked the little knight quietly as she passed by.

"Yeah", Vita replied in kind.

Signum had something to speak to Hayate about. This boy was definitely not normal, what happened to the good old days when all she dated were wimps. Argh! She should never have put away those antique rapiers their benefactor had sent.

--

Twenty minutes later and Hayate came down in a modest pink spaghetti strap dress with a small white jacket and a dim topaz colored hand bag. Sora himself had just come out of the kitchen wiping his hands.

"Aoi-san?", Hayate looked surprised. This person looked nothing like the teen at school. Rather than a messy mop off black, it was mostly brushed back with some hair persisting at the front, his face looked so strong and confident unlike the usual one which was hidden behind huge specs and hid amongst the crowd. His eyes though were the most unexpected, they were blood red.

"Shall we go?", He cheerily asked her.

"What happened?", Hayate noticed the state of his suit. Messy, messy, messy.

"Don't worry it's nothing", Sora reassured her. He spotted Signum and said, "By the way, Signum-san, dinner is ready".

"you made dinner?", Hayate looked surprised at this. She spotted Signum, "Signum". Signum almost flinched visibly at her tone. "Did you make him cook?", She questioned.

"No, no, I did it on my own. There is nothing to worry about.", back came the overly respectful tone.

"Really?", she asked him.

"Yes", he nodded.

"Then I don't know how to thank you", Hayate bowed

"There is no need, I just hope they enjoy the dinner", the tall teen collected his coat, jacket and tie.

"This fried rice is great! Signum! Hayate! You have to try this!", Vita called from the dining table.

"You two go on ahead", Signum told them.

"But Aoi-san", Hayate gestured at her classmate's state of dress.

"I'll manage", Sora smiled at her concern.

Hayate seemed unsure and looked at Signum. "Go on", the pink-haired woman nudged the brunette gently.

Hayate finally consented and said, "Take care of things while I'm gone".

"I will", Signum nodded.

Hayate put on her brown coat and heels. "Let's go", she eagerly called Sora. "Itekimasu", she told Signum.

"Take care", Signum smiled at her.

Hayate had already exited the house while Sora was putting on his shoes, jacket and coat. He was about to open the door when Signum called, "Hey".

"Yes?", Sora watched Signum stare right at him.

Signum called him planning to say something but she felt it wouldn't mean anything since he had already answered back awhile ago. She sighed and finally decided on what to say. "Don't embarass her okay?", she folded her arms across her chest.

The tall teen turned bright red. "I hope not", he nodded nervously and left.

Signum smiled. He did get flustered.

--

POST NOTES: I hope this one's good. Inspired from another fanfic, Prom Knights:The Four Trials of Dating by Seravy. One might say rip-off. If that is the case then I'll delet this if the author wishes it. I don't know the guy but that story of his rocked. I suggest you guys read it. See ya'z


	3. manga and memories: Hayate meets senpai

PRE-NOTES: Ah I've been a busy guy lately writing multiple fics at once. Still working on this one seems to fill me with some sort of satisfaction. The fact that people are actually bother clicking into the story is already heartwarming for me. Anyway, onward I plow with this series of interconnected one-shotesque chapters.

**I'm gonna try a format of three scene breaks as scene or POV switch while single scene breaks equate flashbacks.**

--

--

--

"So how did your date go yesterday?", Arisa Bannings, blonde, boyish, bossy, short-tempered. They were only some of the things she was. One of them though was definitely annoying.

"It wasn't a date Arisa-chan!", Hayate puffed up her cheeks in indignation.

"Oh really now? I heard that some girls overheard you asking him out when you two were all alone the day before yesterday. You must've freaked when he didn't show up for class yesterday.", she teased further.

"I-I wasn't", Hayate denied looking away.

"Oh Hayate-chan", the long-haired brunette of the group, Nanoha, shook her head at the other person who shared the same hair color.

"She's dealt with interrogating interdimensional criminals and yet a little girl gossip questioning gets her all nervous", Fate shook her head as well.

It was currently lunch time at school. The group of five usually had a table to themselves and today was no different. They shared a table near the side of the of cafeteria, that being the neutral zone as the middle was for school idols while the corners were for loners. The noise wasn't so bad since they could talk amidst of it. Actually it was kind of nice, now nobody would hear the embarassing conversation.

"Arisa-chan please don't talk about that", Suzuka kindly asked of her friend.

"Why's that? Oh right!... her...", Arisa got this sly gleam in her eyes.

"Her?", Hayate asked the blonde civilian. "Who's her?", she asked nervously. Did she interrupt Sora's relationship or something? She would apologize immediately if some sort of misunderstanding happened.

"Oh don't worry you'll meet her soon", Arisa gave a shrill sly laugh.

"It's Moriyama Ringgo of the juniors", Suzuka supplied cheerfully before bringing a dainty sum of rice and omelet to her lips.

"Boo! You always spoil my fun", Arisa deflated.

"Ringgo Moriyama?", Nanoha thought a bit before she almost froze. "Is this the same Moriyama-san we met back then?", she asked Suzuka before feeding herself another bite.

"Yes", Suzuka nodded smiling.

"Ringgo 'Neko Mimi' Moriyama, I think they call her", Fate spoke thoughtfully on the subject.

"How'd you guys know her and why is she called Neko Mimi?", Hayate, who had never heard of this person before, began asking for answers to get in the same loop as they did about this person.

"Ringgo Moriyama, member of both the manga club and home economics club. Class 2-2. She's around 5"1 with long apple green hair and eyes. Her hair is usually tied in a loose low ponytail with a white ribbon while the sides of her bangs are usually tied with black ones, the front of her bangs are an even fringe cut. A very pretty girl with a slim figure. She's known as Neko Mimi because of her ears that seem to be sharp as a cat's, letting her catch gossip even from a mile away", Suzuka recited.

They looked at her surprised. "Wow Suzuka-chan I didn't know you knew so much about her", Hayate was the first to gather the courage to break the awkward silence commented.

"I could give you her sizes if you want", Suzuka giggled jokingly. Though the others were kind of afraid, wondering, 'Does she really know?'.

"No no, thanks for telling me the specifics, though I still wonder how you met her", Hayate asked Nanoha.

Nanoha kept her chopsticks to her mouth and wondered if she should say anything. She finally decided to say it outright, "She came down and began giving me a talk on gender issues."

The table had a varying collection of reactions. Arisa snickered, Suzuka tried to keep her giggle down to a small smile, Hayate exploded into a surprised "WHAT!?" and Fate settled for choking on her bit of rice.

Nanoha was bright red as she continued, "She... uh... thought that you, me and Fate-chan were in a relationship since at least two or the three of us were absent at a time.". Nanoha was like a beacon of red right now as she sat there embarassed, playing with her lunch.

"That's the first I've heard of this", Fate choked out after taking a deep drink from her juice carton.

Nanoha just sat there and tried to speak but what came out was almost a whisper. Arisa looked exasperated before sighing and translated, "You guys were on a mission that day". "Geez it's just a Moriyama-senpai", Arisa shook her head as at Nanoha's helplessly embarassed state.

"You're one to talk Arisa-chan. After Ringgo-senpai gave you the same talk.", Suzuka giggled lightly.

"I thought you swore not to say anything about that!", Arisa looked at Suzuka shocked.

"What happened?", Hayate asked, Fate was in shock about hearing that someone thinking they were in a relationship like 'THAT' type of relationship.

"Well, after Ri-", Suzuka never got to finish.

"Nooo!", Arisa glomped the violet haired girl before another word could be said.

"Excuse me?", a familiar overly polite tone cut through their banter. Fate and Nanoha broke out of their stupor while Arisa paused from her harassment of Suzuka for the moment while Hayate felt like a rock dropped to the pit of her stomach at the sight of the shadow that cast over her.

"Y-yes Aoi-san?", the short-haired brunette turned to face the taller boy.

"I have the expense calculations for our share in the district fair that was discussed yesterday. I won't be able to stay after school to help so I thought it might be better if you receive it now.", Sora handed Hayate a thick brown envelope. "I'll leave you to your friends and lunch now. Bon apetit", he slight bow with his head in farewell.

"You sure know how to pick'em Hayate-chan", Arisa watched Sora disappearinto the crowd, still in her awkward position on top of Suzuka.

"Arisa-chan!", Hayate subconsciously flailed her arms in panic and desperately tried to silence her with words.

"Arisa-chan maybe the least of your worries Hayate-chan", Suzuka gestured to the whispering crowds who saw them.

Hayate paled. This was getting out of hand.

--

--

--

It was afternoon break and Hayate had thought a nice cold can of juice was in order. She reached the school vending machines, occasionally saying hello's and hi's to people she passed by. Being voted student council president would make you do that. Thankfully there was no one in line.

"Must be my luck day", Hayate skipped happily towards the juice machine.

"Excuse me", a hand grabbed the brunettes should.

"Hm? Yes?", hayate looked behind her and hapiness turned into terror. She saw a very pretty girl with a slim figure around 5"1 with long apple green hair and eyes. Her hair was tied in a loose low ponytail with a white ribbon while the sides of her bangs were tied with black ones, the front of her bangs were an even fringe cut. 'Just like Suzuka described', Hayate thought what kind of horrendously embarassing talk was she going to receive now that would make her splutter like Nanoha did at the very memory or was she interested in Sora?

"Yagami-san I hear you're seeing Aoi-san now-a-days", the green-haired girl asked rather ominously.

Hayate carefully thought over her answer. This person was extremely frightening. "Eh... N-", the grip on Hayate's shoulder tightened and she yelped. "Yah!", she half-screamed. Hayate clamped her hands over her mouth. What did she just say? What if this girl was interested in Sora? She should clear this up either way. Hayate tried to ignore the pressure on her shoulder and tried to explain, "Uh... I meant that-".

"I knew it!", the green-haired girl smiled.

"Wha-?", Hayate was taken aback by the reaction.

"I knew there was some kind of plot development coming my way! I'm burning with passion!", the green-haired senpai pumped her fist high into the air.

"Eh?", Hayate was clueless as ever.

A couple of seconds of awkward silence and suddenly the girl began to look around wondering what she was doing. "Oh no I got too excited again", the girl paniced. She then took notice of Hayate who was just standing there. "Eh sorry about that, let me introduce myself I'm Moriyama Ringgo of class 2-2, manga club and home economics club member", she introduced herself with an exagerrated bow.

"Um I'm Yagami Hayate, class 1-2, no clubs, student council president.", Hayate mirrored the bow.

"So can you tell me your dating experience with Sora-san?", Ringgo immediately interogated the girl as soon as she stood up straight.

Hayate was taken aback once again by this girl's question. "It's not like that. It was only a one-night thing", the brunette answered nervously.

"A one-night 'fling' you say?", Ringgo took out a notepad and pencil and began writing down on it.

"Nooo! thing, senpai! I said 'THING'", Hayate tried to clarify in a panic.

"Ahh so you meant thing", Ringgo did some erasing on her notepad. "Why did you go on this date then if it was only a one night thing? You two don't seem the type to just try dating all of a sudden. Don't tell me? You fell in love at first sight and broke up right on your first date?", Ringgo asked intrigued.

"No it wasn't anything like that. It was just a meeting in which I required a partner and he was the only one who was available", Hayate explained to the gossipy girl.

"Nothing special?", she asked the brunette, getting too close for comfort.

"No", Hayate stepped back from the proximity.

"Really?", Ringgo put her face even closer to Hayate's

"Really", Hayate sweatdropped.

"Liar", Ringgo plainly said as she turned away.

Hayate just gaped at her. How could she just judge her like that?

"I can tell that something went on between you two", the green-haired sempai looked at her taller kouhai. She began to circle Hayate like a predator circles their prey, "The question now is what?".

'She knows, she knows!', Hayate thought in a daze.

"So tell me, did you kiss?", the senpai gushed.

"N-no!", Hayate blushed.

"Then tell me what happened", Ringgo smiled. She could tell that this girl was cracking and just a little more would get the piece of info out.

Hayate just shook her head. If the mistress of gossip, the one known to have ears like a cat's that hear every piece of gossip, what's to tell that she doesn't spread it as well?

"Did you actually go all the way?", Ringgo asked expectantly.

That was it. Hayate turned red all the way under the collar and almost screamed, "No! We just danced."

"That's it? You danced?", Ringgo said disappointedly. She lowered her head and sighed, "All that work and for nothing"

"We had dinner if that makes you feel better", Hayate tried to comfort the disappointed girl.

"No, you don't understand! I'm a manga artist under a pen name and I'm making a manga about my life! Currently I'm in what I'd call my Sora-arc. I need a plot twist and I thought it was here! I've been pushing my deadline back for weeks just for this!", the green-haired girl lamented.

There were so many woes for Hayate to take in at once but the first statement that came out of her mouth was, "You're a manga artist?".

"Nooo! I wasn't suppossed to say that either!", Ringgo sobbed.

Hayate wrapped her arms around the smaller senpai and began to pat her back. "There, there its okay I won't tell anyone", Hayate comforted the elder girl. The sobs weren't stopping but they weren't worsening either. An idea to cheer her up suddenly came to mind, 'I guess it wouldn't hurt if she knew'. "Hey Ringgo-senpai, I'll tell you something good", Hayate winked at the green-haired mangaka.

"R-really?, Ringgo looked at her hopefully with wide teary eyes.

Hayate had to look away, 'Kyaa she's so cute like that'. She looked back and said, "Yes, actually after the meeting..."

--

Hayate sighed as she walked out of the fancy hotel. "I can't believe it took that long", she smiled at the tall figure beside her. It was Sora, his suit was different from when they arrived.

Just before the meeting, Sora had asked to be excused and came back wearing a new suit. he explained that one of his his sisters was around and she had a spare suit on hand since she was a clothing designer. he told her that she was only working a small time line of clothing, but it seemed they were there for some sort of big contract dealing.

His new suit was better than the last one. It oozed suave from the seems, the coat, slacks and tie were so black they seemed to shimmer against the bright white dress shirt he had on. His hair was like when they left except there were less loose strands now, most likely gel was applied. He kept his glasses off though, showing blood red eyes.

"Yes, it's almost eleven right now.", the tall teen checked his watch.

"Everything went by so fast", Hayate sat by the fountain in the miniature park across the hotel entrance.

"Except maybe for the meeting", interjected Sora. Hayate could practically hear him smile as he told her.

"Yes, it just seemed to stretch on and on", she stretched her arms upward. In her current attire she would have been abashed if any other guy was the one with her. She didn't feel that Sora was special, no. Sora was just, well, Sora. When he looked at people it was as if he never judged them. Hayate felt that maybe the real reason people felt awkward around Sora was because he always acted so well-mannered. People didn't know how to act around him even though he gave them free reign, because he made people feel that the way they act was inferior to his.

Hayate shook herself from those musings and tried to think of something else. Her eyes found the moon and couldn't help but think of the first time she was asked out. She remembered that it was a full moon like this one. They were out on a school trip to the mountains and Nanoha was with Fate on a mission do they couldn't make it. Arisa and Suzuka were both sharing a tent, fast asleep. She alone sat by the campfire gazing up at the moon and the stars that seemed so much closer. She lifted her hand to try and reach for one when a boy's laugh had caught her attention. They boy was kind of cute, she thought. They had talked that night and before she knew it he was asking her out. At first she was surprised but after a few minutes she made up her mind to accept the invitation.

The date was set to be sunday, the day after they got home. It hadn't been five minutes when she left him with the wolkenritter to help Shamal, who had asked for assistance in the kitchen, just before they left that she came back to the living room without him in it. Through the years though, date invitations became more and more frequent to her and she would accept them but all of them were exactly or nealry the same as the first. Soon she began to decline a majority of the invitations and later they just stopped altogether not including the rare brave ones.

Sora watched the brunette girl in her brown coat sit by the fountain, staring to the skies. A wistful look on her face, One he'd seen so many times before on his sisters' faces. He felt his lips curl into an amused smile as an idea to cheer her up hit him. He approached her but she took no notice even as snow crunched loudly underneath his shoes. He bent down till his mouth was just by her ears and called her name, "Yagami-san". He almost laughed when he saw how her ears turned pink, the speed in which she got up and the most priceless of all was her expression.

"Huh? Oh Aoi-san", Hayate sighed in relief. She had thought it was someone else. "What is it?", she asked him.

"I just thought to ask", Sora's smile was as amused as it could get. He surprised her when he bowed and offered her his hand, "Would you care to dance?".

Hayate's thought processes stoppd for a moment before asking the first question that came to mind, "In this snow?".

"Why not?", Sora tipped his head to the side.

"Well it's cold", Hayate reasoned.

"All the more we should dance, I'm sure a little exercise will warm us up", he half-laughed.

"It'll be awkward to dance in our coats", the brunette added.

"With the way you danced awhile ago? I see no problem", Sora was still smiling.

Hayate started to feel warm despite the snow and looked down finding that telling the dirt from snow seemed more interesting to her now. After a bit she still noticed his hand outstretched to her from the corner of her vision. "Stop, please, it's embarassing", she couldn't look him in the eye.

"There's no one here to judge you.", he stated simply. His voice felt off though.

Out of curiosity, Hayate looked up and saw that he was blushing crimson as his eyes. It was kind of cute.

They stood there in the snow for awhile, at least till some one interrupted. "Give the kid a chance!", a man's voice called out.

The pair looked to the side and found that they were in view near the waiting area for drivers for the valet parking. It seemed that they had gained quite an audience since there were bellboys and female attendants as well as the drivers.

Hayate felt herself go in flames. She looked to Sora for comfort but all she saw was his hand. It looked so gentle and protective that she gave no second thought but to take it so that it would hide her from those prying eyes, but this was not to be so. As soon as she took his hand he had set them up in a waltzing position.

"May I?", he asked her politely, their faces mere inches away. Needless to say their current dance position was more intimate than the dance position they had during the meeting's community dance.

Hayate couldn't find the words to speak through her embarassment but a certain reasoning made its way to her mind. "There's no music", she told him.

As soon as those words wafted through the air, sweet mellow music began to play. The two looked to the area where the drivers, bellboys and female attendants were and it seemed they had rigged up instruments of the sorts. "We'll handle the music, you kids just have fun", a rather rugged driver in his late forties with wrinkling skin and slightly heavy set build smiled at them.

"Thank you", Sora smiled. It was a miraculous stroke of luck, he had actually planned on just humming.

And so they danced the night away. It was nothing like the date that Hayate wished for which would entail just her and her date alone, silently enjoying each other's company, lovingly cuddling up against each other for warmth. No it was her first date and it was spent in the presence of kind strangers, soft music, dancing with a boy who unwittingly became her first date and seemed to have no chance of having a relationship with. he was just a working buddy.

--

"And that's what happened.", Hayate told her senpai.

"Wow", Ringgo's eyes were all sparkly. "It seems so cliche in the animes and mangas, but for it to happen for real sounds so-so romantic!", the green-haired mangaka gushed. "I am definitely using that as material", the girl scribbled madly into her notepad.

"Wha? whoa", Hayate held the excited girl up for a moment. "You aren't going to publish that are you?", she asked with worry.

"Oh don't think much of it. I'll just base it off this and rework the character names. I mean the character in my manga maybe like Sora but it isn't him", she comforted her distraught kouhai and left.

Hayate was just left to stand there and gape at the hollow space where just before her senpai was crying her heart out. She sure bounced back fast. Hayate just remembered what she was there to do and was about to do it when the bell rang. She was sorely disappointed she had not gotten her juice. Looking on the bright side she continued to reminisce of the memory two nights ago. When they got to the Yagami residence, Signum, who was the only one left awake, had a severe tongue lashing to deliver unto Sora but thankfully he was able to leave relatively in tact with a little help from Hayate.

It was after she remembered the memories of that night that she finally understood. Sora didn't the way he did because he wanted to make people feel inferior. He did those things because he felt inferior.

--

--

--

POST NOTES: Wee done for this one. Wonder if this'll turn into a novel thingy? Meh who cares? (sure as hell not the readers!). Anyway thanks for reading this if you are reading these very lines at this very moment and stay tuned for the OMAKE.

--

--

--

OMAKE:

The next week after school had let out, Hayate was walking down the street and passed by a bookstore. She decided to stop by and saw a certain manga. She looked for the author's name which was APPLE. She remembered Ringgo telling her that her pen name was APPLE. She then flipped open the manga and several pages later, fainted. The people of the bookstore checked on her and the manga she was reading. They couldn't believe their eyes. The girl before them and the one in the manga were identical!


	4. Fights and family:Shamal meets the Aoi's

PRE-NOTES: For those interested, it is time. It is time for me to introduce his family.

**Remember three scene breakers for POV and scene change, one for flashback. Thank you very much for noticing this notice.**

--

--

--

A woman with shot blonde hair till just above her shoulders, was walking around the empty streets of a snowy city. Her white coat and light complexion making her almost indiscernable against the snow. She had a maroon scarf and a pair of gloves and boots that shared the same color of brown. She was, as you guessed it, Shamal of the wolkenritter. It was just a couple days after the start of the Christmas holidays and the rest of the wolkenritter, along with Hayate had duty at the TSAB headquarters. For some reason, she was not assigned to the same job even though they were in the same unit. When she asked why, all they did was give nervous half-explanations and left in a hurry.

"I wish they could just tell me what's going on.", Shamal sighed. 'The snow is so beautiful', Shamal thought as she looked up at the falling flakes. It felt almost nostalgic since the first Reinforce's sealing six years ago.

She looked about the streets and figured that there would be hundreds of Christmas shoppers. The first time she experienced the Christmas shopping rush with the wolkenritter was a nightmare. They had lost Hayate and Vita, as well as Zafira. When they found the three, each on his or her own, Hayate was helping a child find his mother, Vita was getting lots of attention in whack-a-mole at the arcade and the disgruntled Zafira seemed to have been picked up by a child who wanted to adopt him(People actually thought he was cute in puppy form, so what gives?).

Shamal looked at the various shops that were lined with presents-to-be and food stuffs destined to be part of a Christmas feast. It was right by an alleyway corner that a young girl with pinkish red-hair in twin tails ran right into her.

"Wa wa wa wa", Shamal groaned in pain as she fell on her butt.

"What the heck? Watch where you're going!", a young female voice screamed at the woman.

Shamal looked to the voice's source and saw that the young girl with twin tails was right on top of her. She was wearing a blue violet sweater, a light blue skirt and black woolen leggings with tan snow boots.

Suddenly, five thuggish elder looking boys poured out of the alleyway. "You owe me lunch money you tramp!", their leader, who seemed the most presentable of them all yelled out.

The red-head immediately got off the woman and confronted the boy, "Shut up! It's not like it's your money!".

"Heh", the boy smirked. "That kid was giving me his lunch money.", he folded his arms across his chest.

"Looked like you were taking it from what I saw", the young girl replied rather rudely.

"If you wanted to help him out, why not just give me 'your' lunch money", the boy stuck out his hand cockily.

"In your dreams", she screamed. Her next move surprised Shamal when the red-head landed a flying kick right on the face of the boy. She landed and yelled, "How'd you like them apples!".

"Y-you-you... bitch! Get her!", he ordered his lackeys. The girl stood her ground against her approaching adversaries.

"Don't think I'll go easy just cause you're a girl!", the first guy that got near wound up for a punch as the girl grinned and tensed up.

The boy drove his right fist forward but it was caught in mid-air. "That should be enough", spoke a voice in an overly polite tone that my readers should have become accustomed to.

"Wh-who the hell are you?", another boy asked, nervously eyeing the intimidating stature of the new comer.

"Her brother", he explained in those two simple words. "Is there a problem with my little sister?", he asked approaching them.

"N-no", the lackey who tried punching the red-head found himself cowering under the tall teen's shadow.

"If there is none then, I would appreciate it if you leave her alone", he swept his glaring spectacled gaze across the faces of the punks, as if memorizing their faces.

Each one paled under the cold countenance he possessed and one spoke for all four of the lackeys when he said, "W-will do!". And so the four ran leaving the last one behind.

The tall teen saw the remaining punk still on the ground and glaring at him and his sister, albeit shakily. He regarded the boy on the ground the same way he did the others, "Do you have a problem?".

The punk's eyes widened to the size of saucers before crawling away while screaming, "Noooo!". "Wait for me you guys!", they heard him echo.

"Mou... and here I thought I was gonna get a good fight!", the red-head folded her hands behind her head.

The taller form looked down to the girl almost three-quarters of his size. "Getting into a fight is no good", he reprimanded her.

"It's for a cause", the red-head puffed up her cheeks and looked away.

"Still, if you really believe in justice then you should also believe in peace.", he lectured.

"Hmph! Justice without violence is useless", she walked away.

"Akai! I'm not done with you yet", he followed but stopped short on seeing the blonde woman on the snow littered pavement.

Shamal had just watched the scene play before her since it all seemed to happen just so fast. She was snapped out of her daze though when a hand reached out for her. "I'm sorry you had to see that, are you hurt in any way miss?", the tall teen apologized as she took his hand. It was a bit before she recognized him.

"Aaah! It's you!", she pointed at him with mouth agape.

"Do you know that woman Sora?", Akai, the red-headed little sister, asked her brother.

"Can't say I do", Sora looked carefully at Shamal.

Ofcourse he'd have trouble recognizing her. She was wearing different clothes compared to last time but it was a different case for her. He was wearing exactly the same thing, except he had traded in his denim pants for sweat pants, no wonder she could tell it was him. "Don't you remember? From the grocery?", she asked him with much concern.

"Hmm... Yes. I'm sorry for my rudness", Sora lightly bowed to her. "I recall seeing you at the grocery, picking for vegetables was it not?", he tipped his headback in recollection.

"Yes", Shamal nodded excitedly.

"So you do know this woman", Akai tched and looked away.

Sora looked at her skeptically. "Yes I do, though I doubt the relationship we share is the same as the one you think", the tall teen acknowledged.

"Thank you for the recipe back then! My family really liked it.", Shamal shook his hand.

Sora smiled, "I'm glad."

Oh if he only knew...

--

Shamal was depressed after Vita's fainting. She had so much faith in that soup. After washing the dishes she sat in a corner and couldn't help but cry out of depression. It was then Vita emerged from upstairs.

The little knight was already in a small panic since the others just fainted on her and now a crying Shamal increased this panic to near hysteria. 'What the hell is going on!?', the little knight mentally raved. Gaah! first things first, Shamal had to stop crying.

Vita approached the crying knight rather nervously. "What's wrong?", asked.

"V-V-Vita? Is that you?", Shamal wiped away at her face to see through the tears. For now, all she could see was a flesh colored blob topped with a red blob.

"Uh yeah" , the standardly rash red-head was unsure of how to proceed.

"I'm so sorry!", Shamal latched onto her and bawled her eyes out..

"Wha-wha-wha?", Vita almost tipped over from the sudden weight pressed on her and the tears that seeped into her clothes wasn't making things any less awkward for her.

"I'm so sorry! I thought that I finally made something good and it turns out that it's still bad!", Shamal's cries intensified as did her grip. Vita could barely breathe now.

Vita tried to loosen her grip but the weeping knight of the lake just wouldn't budge. "Look, there's no need to cry", Vita choked.

"But- but Vita-chan almost diiiiiieeeed", Shamal sobbed some more.

Vita cringed and said, "No, really, it was actually kinda good".

"You're just saying that", Shamal cried. "Like all those other times", she wiped at her eyes.

"I'm not just saying it this time", Vita told her truthfully.

Shamal noticed this and the water works stopped, much to Vita's relief. "Really?", Shamal asked all chibified and teary eyed.

Vita's eye twitched and she mentally face palmed, 'I need to get my eyes checked'. "Really", Vita reassured her.

"Really really?", Shamal asked hopefully.

"Yes, really really", Vita answered. Who could say no to a chibified teary-eyed Shamal?

"Really really really?", Shamal pressed on.

"Really really really", Vita answered with a strained smile thinking, 'this is becoming annoying'.

"Yay! Thank you Vita-chan", Shamal hugged the little knight before running off to God-knows-where muttering things about getting stuff ready.

It was after Shamal left that a thought struck Vita. "Wait! What about Hayate and the others? Shamal!", she called after the blonde.

After a couple of weeks, Vita completely regretted her words that day. For everyday when it was Shamal who made dinner, pumpkin soup was sure to be on the menu.

--

Sora bowed and apologized, "Again, I apologize for what you had to see back there. Please excuse us, we'd better be on our way now".

Shamal watched as they walked away but something which had been nagging her the whole time while they hadn't met. he had taught her that pumpkin soup recipe and everybody liked it. She had repeatedly made it and in a month's time she had mastered, and in her opinion, improved upon the recipe. Everything else she cooked though came out like they usually did, poisonous. She wondered if this boy would mind teaching her how to cook or at least showing her some more recipes. The blonde took a chance and plowed on through.

She ran after the tall teen and his much smaller sister. When she rounded the corner, they were still in sight. Thank God for the lack of people on the streets that day. "Excuse me!", Shamal caught up with them.

"Like I sa- hm?", Sora stopped mid-lecture as heard the blonde woman following them and slowed down to let her catch up. She reached them, a bit flushed and out of breath. "What is it?", he gently questioned.

"I know it's a bit rude specially since we don't even know each other even though we've met before but-"

"You wanna ask him out?", the mischievous little Akai snickered, cutting Shamal off.

"N-no!", Shamal blushed while waving her hands before her. As if it would ward off the accusation.

"Ofcourse not, I apologize on her behalf.", Sora bowed slightly. He turned to the red-head and said sternly, "I already told you Akai. Choose your words carefully when you speak.".

"No, it's okay. All I wanted to ask was if you could teach me how to cook", Shamal explained rather quickly.

This caught the attention of the siblings.

"You would... er... like me... to... um... teach you... how to... eh... cook?", Sora wondered unsurely.

Akai's deep amethyst eyes sparkled as she said, "She's perfect for you Sora!".

"Quiet Akai", Sora shushed the girl. Unfortunately, the effect of this statement was fataly lessened by his blushing.

"Aww how cute", teased Akai. Oh how she killed for moments like these.

"Um", Shamal looked unsure of her position.

"I guess I could", Sora thought it over. He looked over at her thoughtfully, "You could stay over at our place for dinner and we can discuss it if you want. I mean you do have a family of six if I remember correctly but I'm a tad forgetful so I wanted to keep a record of your request.".

Shamal smiled a most joyful smile. "Yes, I'd love to. My family is now at work and won't be coming back for a few days so I want to get better and cook a holiday feast for them when they get back.", Shamal clasped her hands in happiness.

"Introductions are in order", Sora spoke, back in his non-blushing seriously polite tone. "I am Aoi Sora", he gestured to himself. He then gestured to the smaller girl and introduced her, "and she is my little sister, Aoi Akai".

Shamal enthusiastically told them her name, "I'm Yagami Shamal! Pleased to meet you"

--

Now Shamal had seen lots of houses in her time of six years, the building before her though looked indiscernable as a house. Around the structure was an old brick wall veiled in low hanging, flower bearing trees. Sora and Shamal had to bend down since the branches would whip at their faces. Akai was just the right height and brushed away certain ones that hung too low.

Shamal was admitted behind the gates and was shocked at her discovery. Behind the wall lay the house, it looked nothing like the one from outside. The flower trees and decrepit walls seemed to act as an illusion that obstructed view and gave the impression of the house being decrepit and all. It was one of those old style japanese houses but it was well maintained. It even had a huge garden and koi pond that looked alive and well taken care of.

"Amazing", Shamal whispered in awe.

"Miyoru-nee-chan and Chiki-chan like to tend to the garden and koi", Sora explained.

"Oh? You have a sister besides Akai-chan?", Shamal asked curiously.

"Five", Akai passed by her and ran into the

Shamal was surprised at this and wanted clarification straight from Sora. "You have five sisters?", she asked.

"Yes, you'll meet them soon enough", he reassured her.

"What about brothers?", Shamal pressed further as they reached the door to the house.

"I have none", Sora answered as he opened the front door. He offered her entrance into the house like a true gentleman, "Ladies first".

Shamal entered and removed her boots before stepping into the hallway beyond a wooden screen door.

"Ni-chaaaan!", a shrill scream that sounded extremely young came from behind the door. Shamal wondered what would burst through as she saw the out line of the approaching being. The door opened and out came a little girl of no more than eight. The wolkenritter member had to thank her reflexes when she dodged the little girl that immediately latched onto Sora's waist in a blur of brown, yellow and white. "Akai-chan is making fun of my dress again!", the little girl bawled.

Now that Shamal had a better view of the child, she saw a yellow dress under a white work apron with splashes of varying colors here and there. The little girl was cute with pouty cheeks, sparkly green eyes, enviable tresses the color of pale coffee that reached her shoulders and a stature that placed her .

The little girl stopped wailing for a bit as he gently took her hands in his and knelt down to her level. "Don't mind her Chiki. I think your dress looks just fine", he reassured his little sister.

The little brunette wiped at her tears and looked at him with big dewy eyes before asking, "Does it look pretty on me?".

Sora had an amused expression on his face. "Ofcourse", he told her.

"Yay!", cheered the little girl while glomping onto the taller Sora's neck.

Shamal was confused as to how this little girl changed from crying to happy in the blink of an eye.

"Now", Sora huffed a bit as he hefted the girl in his arms.

"Lemme sit, lemme sit", the child cheered.

"Okay then, here we go", Sora shifted her position in his arms. The end result was her sitting on his right shoulder. The position gave her a good view considering Sora's height added to her own. Shamal gaped at his strength but had the presence of mind to close her mouth.

It was now that the child noticed the stranger in their house. "Nii-chan, who is she?", she pointed at Shamal.

"I already told you, it's not polite to point.", Sora scolded the child. he then regarded Shamal and introduced the two. "Chiki this is Shamal-san", Sora gestured at Shamal. "Shamal-san this is Chiki, my youngest sister", he gestured to the girl sitting on his arm.

"Hiya", Chiki chirped.

"Sora! I heard you brought a woman with you?", a female voice asked incredelously. From the stairs emerged a girl with dark skin and short snow white hair with pink eyes. She wore no more than cycling pants and a loose undershirt that looked as if they were just tossed on at random.

"Yuki-nee! How many times do I have to tell you to wear proper clothes?", Sora flushed embarassedly at his sister's indecent attire in front of a guest.

The white-haired girl just waved it off and approached the awkward Shamal. The elder sister shook Shamal's hand rather wildly while introducing herself, "Ah the name's Aoi Yukishiro, just call me Yuki-chan. If my brother has told you anything about me, none of it is true". Yuki chuckled the last part rather nervously.

"P-p-plea-s-sed t-to m-m-m-meet y-youuuu", Shamal's speech shook with her body from all the shaking her hand was getting.

"Yuki! Stop fooling around, she's our guest after all.", down came a beautiful long blonde girl with bright silver eyes and warming aura. This one was wearing a long sleeved house dress. She looked like the eldest in the family.

Shamal bowed to the other blonde and greeted, "Good afternoon, I'm Yagami Shamal".

The blonde woman covered her soft giggles with her hands before introducing herself as well, "My name is Aoi Hirari, I am the eldest of the Aoi household. Please make yourself at home.".

"Well, it seems you've met just about everyone", Akai appeared out of nowhere.

Shamal mentally counted off the number of siblings present. "Miyoru is the only one not present", Hirari had a thoughtful expression.

"I assume she's in her room", Sora stated more than asked.

"I guess", Yuki folded her hands behind her head in a carefree pose.

"Miyoru-one-chan!", Chiki suddenly called out.

"Chiki-chan", a quiet voice caught the attention of everyone. Shamal was surprised when she saw this girl. If the rest of the wolkenritter and Aoi family had odd features to their physique, this girl just beat them all put together, hrs was unearthly. Her long hair was midnight blue, a rich and deep color, her eys were the tint of gold and her complexion was pale as moonlight. Three identifying features that made her look frightening as they did beautiful. What she was wearing fully suited her though. A shoulderless long-sleeved black and violet gothloli dress with leggings and underskirt accompanied by black boots and a small jacket. From her walk and expression, Shamal guessed that Sora took after this sister in manners except that his sister seemed more reserved and stoic than he was.

"Are you going out Miyoru-nee", Sora greeted her with respect.

Miyoru lightly shook her head and quietly spoke, "I just came back. I was just about to change when Akai came in and told me you'd brought a guest.".

Sora looked to Akai who just gave the peace sign with a mischievous grin.

Shamal was about to introduce herself for the fifth time that day but Miyoru cut her off. "You are Yagami Shamal-san if I heard it correctly from all the comotion?", the gothic girl asked in her quiet voice.

"Yes", Shamal spoke happily. "You must be Miyoru-san, your garden is beautiful", Shamal praised truthfully.

"Yes I am and thank you for the compliment", the unexpressive girl gave a small smile.

Hirari clapped her hands and said, "Well I guess introductions are over. Why don't we go into the living room to talk a bit. It has been awhile since we've had a visitor".

"I'll make tea then", Miyoru walked to the kitchen.

Yuki jumped and whooped, "Kotatsu time!".

Sora groaned at the childish display. Akai nudged him though saying, "Can't blame her, she's gotta be cold wearing nothing but that".

Chiki tipped her head and pointed out, "But isn't that all she ever wears?".

"Alright everyone, I'm making cookies", Hirari smiled.

"Uwah! No!", Chiki threatened to fall off of Sora's shoulder in her protest.

"For once me and the squirt agree", Akai nodded rather quickly.

"I'll make the cookies", Sora sighed while struggling to keep the still protesting Chiki on balance.

Seeing this wild scene in such a small entrance. It kind of reminded her of home. This family looked like so much fun.

--

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POST NOTES: I'm entering my writer's block so uh... if you think the quality is dropping as well as the capturing or keeping the characters in character. Then yeah I guess I'm slipping. Oh right OMAKE.

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OMAKE: If you're wondering where the rest of the wolkenritter and Hayate are.

At the TSAB head quarters. Cafeteria back area, we find our knights on duty.

"Gah! I can't believe they gave us kitchen duty", screamed an irate Vita as she peeled potato after potato.

"It's not so bad", Hayate smiled as she stirred a pot of stew, asking Rein to pass her some seasoning when the time called for it.

"Don't be bothered by it Vita. We're soldiers, we have our duties to fulfill.", Signum told the child as she chopped carrots.

"We did say that we'd only sign up for any extra missions that nobody else would take", Zafira came into the scene carrying a crate of meat, in human form.

"Oh right", Vita scratched her head sheepishly. She had been the one to do that. It never occured to her that nobody would ever willingly sign up for kitchen duty.

"I wonder why they told us not to bring Shamal", Rein wondered out of nowhere.

At the sound of Shamal's name coming from the cafeteria, everyone within hearing range fainted. The whole TSAB base on the other hand mysteriously suffered semi-severe stomache aches for the rest of the day.


	5. Pasta and pasts: Yuki meets the Aoi's

PRENOTES: Glad someone is supporting this fic. Let's see how far this it goes.

**Scene breakers: 3 for scene or POV change**

**"" is for dialogue**

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The Aoi residence was a large house. One that was built in an olden japanese style, survived a century of war and could almost be called a relic of sorts. The wretched walls outside gave it the illusion of a broken down building. Inside was very different though. It looked well maintained with the wood bearing a beautiful polish. The garden surrounding the compound was no less in appeal. The plants properly pruned, weeds picked out and bonsai lined on a rack along with various medicinal herbs. Koi pond was also well cared for with the fish well fed and the water clear as crystal. The map of the place consisted of a three-floored main complex connected to three smaller buildings: a dojo, a bulding for hot springs and spare rooms, the last being a warehouse. It would be a place worthy of a hefty sum but no one knows how the transaction for its purchase was carried out, except maybe the owners.

Right now, we focus in the main complex which contained the living room, kitchen and the main bedrooms. We enter the kitchen which is equipped with a fridge, a wall-lined kitchen counter with a built in oven and gas stove. Here a blonde woman wearing a beige sweater and green skirt, looking to be in between her twenties was excitedly waiting in front of the oven. With the oven's small ping, the blonde gave a high pitched squeal of anticipation.

"It's finished", the woman cheered as she pulled out the piping hot baking pan and placed on the table across the counter.

"It's just baked spaghetti Shamal-san, no need to get excited", a tall teenaged boy in a dark blue shirt, white shorts, striped apron and thick lensed glasses told her.

"But Sora-san, it feels so nice to cook with the assurance that you won't cause severe food poisoning", Shamal beamed at him.

Sora sweatdropped as he stowed the thought into the back of his mind. "I guess we should try it out now.", Sora suggested.

"Okay", Shamal said cheerily. She took a fork and broke into the red, yellow and golden brown crust of dried tomato sauce and cheese. She extracted a bit onto a plate and unceremoniously had a taste.

Sora did as she did and calmly assessed the flavor, 'Sweet, but not uncharacteristically so. The tomato sauce' flavor and cheese's creaminess blend quite well. Noodles are a bit overcooked with a hint of excessive saltiness.'. The tall teen turned to his cooking student who felt as if she was in heaven from finally getting the dish down after two days of disasters. He broke her happy moment when he said, "You put too much salt in didn't you?".

"What?", Shamal exclaimed cluelessly. "But I used a teaspoon of salt like you told me", Shamal handed him the measuring spoon she used.

"Shamal-san", Sora told her as he examined the object thrust against his face.

"Yes?", she asked.

"That's a tablespoon.", Sora told her with his stoic demeanor. He gave her a meaningful look as she sort of squirmed in embarassment. "I already taught you about measuring just moments before", Sora sighed disappointedly.

"Well... I...", Shamal tried to explain to her teacher. "It looked a bit scant to me so I used tablespoons instead.". Sora looked at her disbelieveingly. "Two? Tablespoons?", Shamal answered truthfully with a bit of fear.

"You didn't brush off the excess didn't you?"

Shamal only shook her head in response.

'That explains the saltiness and why the pasta is overcooked', Sora thought as he looked down to the baked spaghetti. He turned back to Shamal and spoke, "I've already told you Shamal-san, the salt isn't really meant to season the noodles. The salt is there to increase the water temperature and help the noodles cook faster.". Sora looked at the clock and saw that it was ten in the morning. He took off his apron and told his blonde student, "Shamal-san, I have to go and pay our bills. Please make yourself at home and we'll try once more. I'll be back shortly.". Without another word Sora had left the woman alone in the kitchen.

Shamal felt sad. She was finaly able to get the dish right, at least most of it. She was so confident that she had finally succeeded. It was so yummy to her but Sora was still not satisfied.

"Mmm... I smell something nice", a playful voice broke Shamal's stupor.

"Yukishiro-san?", the depressed blonde saw the white haired girl waltz into the kitchen in her seemingly unchanging attire, undershirt, cycling shorts and with the addition of a jacket. It was winter after all.

"Baked spaghetti!", the white-haired girl drooled at the sight. "Can I?", she looked pleadingly to Shamal.

It was hard to deny someone who looked like the tan girl did right now. "Please, help yourself", the green-eyed blonde smiled unsurely. She was surprised when the white-haired sister of the refined and stoic Sora just grabbed the baking pan, which I remind you was still hot, and began wolfing down with the same fork she had used. Shamal looked in partially disturbed awe at the display of... manners. "I'm uh... not sure of the taste though", Shamal warned quite late as the plate was already half-gone.

"Pshhaww", the girl brandished the fork in a dismissing gesture. "it tastes just fine", she assured the blonde and as if to prov it, the white-haired girl began to eat with even more vigor than she did awhile ago.

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After washing up, Shamal and Yuki sat down by the Kotatsu in the living room for a rest. "It feels so peaceful here", Shamal closed her eyes to enjoy the comfy silence.

"We can't open the electric heater on this thing though", Yuki sulked.

"Why not?", Shamal asked.

"Electric bills", was the simple reply.

"Still, it's wonderful that you have such a warm quilt and the silence is very comforting", the blonde pointed out.

Yuki grinned saying, "Better make the most of it then. It's usually a party here with the two brats loose".

"Akai-chan and Chiki-chan?", Shamal asked in confusion.

"Yup", Yuki smiled in confirmation.

Shamal thought about it and from what she had seen, those two seemd to always be in the middle of some sort of argument. "Do they ever get along?", the blonde asked rather worriedly.

"I don't really know", Yuki scratched her head. "Since I arrived, I've never seen them get along", the tan-girl wondered.

This statement made Shamal wonder. "Aren't you their elder sister?", the blonde asked in surprise.

"Ah, I let it slip", Yuki covered her mouth. "Bah, you'd know the truth sooner or later anyway so I'll tell you. All of us here are orphans", Yuki explained.

"Oh!", Shamal was even more surprised by the revalation than the look on her face let on. "I thought Hirari-san looked too young to be your mother", Shamal thought rather logically.

Yuki just laughed. "Hirari? Our mom?", Yuki paused as another bout of laughter burst out of her. She rolled around the tatami floor of the living room. "I'm sorry", the girl chuckled. "It's just that, bwahaha. The thought of Hirari playing mom is just so... so... out there", Yuki laughed some more.

"Why?", Shamal asked with a suppressed smile.

Yuki wiped a laugh induced tear from her eye as she explained, "She's incapable of housework. Can't cook, can't clean, can't keep any plant or animal alive even for a week. if she were our mom I wouldn't know where this family would be now".

"I can only imagine", Shamal smiled at the thought.

"You really do look better with a smile", Yuki commented with a cheeky one of her own.

"Thank you", Shamal blushed at the compliment.

"What had you down in the kitchen? I noticed that you seemed kinda out of it there.", Yuki asked with a curious look.

"Well...", Shamal explained what had happened moments before the white-haired girl entered the kitchen in search of food.

"I thought it tasted kinda different from Sora's. It explains a lot though", Yuki rubbed her chin comically as if deep in thought, which is half-true.

"It does?", Shamal wondered.

"Well", Yuki sat back down by the kotatsu again. "you did ask him to teach you. When you messed up even after he told you everything you had to know, I guess he felt kinda disappointed in you.", the tan girl surmised.

"But why is he so disappointed?", Shamal questioned.

Yuki rubbed her chin again before she spoke, "I guess because he thinks you're doing this on purpose."

"Huh?", Shamal reacted cluelessly.

Yuki sighed, "If I remember, it was you who asked him to teach you right?".

"Yes", Shamal was curious as to where it would lead.

"Well, I guess he thinks you're not taking this seriously.", Yuki told her.

"Not taking this seriously?", Shamal was taken aback by the accusation.

"Sora has a talent for measuring what people are capable of", the tan girl smiled. "He must see a lot of potential in you. Seeing you do something like that must have really broken those expectations."

"Really?", Shamal asked her.

"Definitely", Yuki reassured the woman.

"I'm home", came Sora's voice from the front door.

"Go", the tan-girl shooed the elder looking woman off to get ready.

"It was kinda the same with me", Yuki mused as she watched the blonde make a beeline for the kitchen.

--

Two years ago when seventeen year old Yukishiro Aoi was only fifteen and lacked the surname she had come to accept as her own, she lived on the streets of a yakuza infested neighborhood. Things had gotten quite bad when foreign crime syndicates had set their eyes on the area, soon it became the breeding ground for the lowest of lowlifes, junkies and the largest red light district one could find. Gang wars were common with murders not far behind.

It was just like any other winters day. She had won another session of mahjong from the local yakuza, needless to say they were quite pissed but a gamble was a gamble. If they stabbed her in the back, news would spread and ruin their reputation among other groups. Not like they had much reputation to start with but such was the world of the yakuza.

"Easy money, easy money", Yuki chanted cheekily as she counted a thick stack of bills in her hand. She was wearing stuff she had just scavenged from the unwanted merchandise thrown out by the clothing store. A black old sweater, cheesy looking multi-colored jacket, slate gray leggings, a dirt encrusted scarf that resembled a reddish color, gray worn out work boots and finally a green beanie cap.

"You cheated didn't you", came a voice from behind.

"Benji", Yuki turned around, recognizing the voice. "What are you talking about? Course I didn't", she told the man. She was used to dealing with him, he was part of the yakuza group whom she had just cleaned house from and did so on a weekly basis.

Benji, a man in a rather tacky gray suit with gray dress shirt and brown coat approached the teen with two of his men by his sides. "I don't believe that such luck would come to a single person for two full months", he told her.

She looked at the man like he was an idiot and just chuckled, "No duh, that's just impossible", she dismissed his idea.

"That's why we have no choice but to assume that you've been cheating us these past weeks", Benji said grimly.

"What do you mean? You were there, watching my every move. How could I cheat even if I wanted to?", Yuki narrowed her pink irises at him.

"I don't know myself miss but that is the only plausible explanation."

"Bullshit", Yuki spoke coldly. "You saw me lose every now and then, how could you say I was cheating?".

"Yet all the losses were small"

"Some were big", Yuki countered.

"And yet you retrieved every yen and then some"

"It's called playing it smart."

"You have no proof of your innocence"

"You don't have proof that I'm guilty either", Yuki spat. It was then realization struck Yuki, the two men at Benji's sides kept staring ahead, not at her but through her. The talk wasn't a proper accusation but a distraction!

"Fucker!", Yuki shouted as she sidestepped a tackle from behind. She glared at Benji as she spoke with a venom laced tone, "You bastard! You just want the money".

"It's by the boss's orders", Benji stepped closer.

"Crap", Yuki saw the man who came from behind get up while Benji and his two thugs were slowly closing. She made a run for it.

"Get her", Benji ordered his men in mid-run.

Snow crunched beneath worn out boots as Yuki ran through the neighborhood she had come to know so well. This almost felt routine for her , even if she knew she could die when they caught up. She had run through these streets as a child running from her everchanging captors and store owners she'd steal food from. She ran through the streets, knowing every twist and turn like a part of her body. She finally ducked into an alleyway that would cut through the red light district. It was a shortcut to the civilian areas where police would be, if she reached there everything would be fine. Too bad, her current pursuers knew just how to deal with people like her.

Yuki skidded to a halt before three imposing men who blocked her path. "Benji's men", she cursed.

"There's nowhere else to run miss Yuki", Benji's voice came from behind. Yuki watched as Benji and his three followers entered the alleyway, exhausted and out of breath.

The mischievous white-haired girl couldn't help but snicker at they're appearance, "Tired much?".

"Sh-shut up", one of the guys behind Benji shakily commanded. They couldn't believe that the girl that had led them on that run was barely breathing all that hard.

"My my, the yakuza should really have their men be more well trained", Yuki taunted.

"You are in no position to be mocking us", Benji approached the tan-girl.

Yuki knew he was right but if she gave up without a fight she might die or worse, lose all her winnings. "Oh yeah?", she gathered up her courage. "We're close enough to the open areas. You're influence doesn't reach that place. I'm sure if I scream, police will come to help me.", she bluffed.

Benji laughed an amused laugh, "Oh really?". "Even if our sphere of influence won't reach there, we have men stationed at the edge's of our territory. So even if you screamed, the police won't be coming. If that doesn't work I'm sure around an eighth of the money on you should satisfy them.", Benji told her with a smirk.

They already planned ahead. Yuki cursed at that gross miscalculation on her part that this was just done on a whim. No, it had been planned way before her victory that afternoon. She had no other way but to continue with her bluff and pray that they bit. "Why don't we try?", she gave them a smirk.

"By all means", Benji lunged.

Yuki screamed as she braced for impact. Nothing came though. Yuki looked around for Benji who had just launched himself at her awhile ago. She found him out cold, lying prostrate on the snow covered ground. What happened? Was her question. She realized that there were tan boot s standing by Benji's fallen form.

"That's what you get for charging an innocent girl!", screamed the irate wearer of said tan boots. It was a small girl with pinkish red hair that was in twin tails. She wore a winter jacket a shade darker than the color of her hair, a violet scarf and black skirt with matching leggings.

"You shouldn't do flying kicks in the attire Akai", a voice reprimanded the red-head. A tall boy standing at around five foot nine, wearing large spectacles, jogging pants, an old white sweater, a brown jacket that had patches here and there and a multi-colored scarf.

"Hey whatever works", the girl named Akai waved it off.

"It's three to one, maybe we shouldn't have intervened.", the taller teen scanned his surroundings through those long bangs and thick glasses.

"If you're whining then I'll take four", the red-head cracked her knuckles as the five lackeys of Benji began to circle the newcomers and sized them up.

"They're just kids, what're we hesitating about?", one of the yakuza shouted in frustration.

"But that little girl just took out Benji in one shot", one of their own countered.

"She hit him in the face with a flying kick in mid-air", another concurred.

"We're yakuza for crying out loud", the first speaker cried in outrage.

"Yakuza?", the tall boy repeated. "We shouldn't have gotten involved after all", he told the younger girl.

"What do you mean Sora? That just makes things more interesting. Where's all that spirit you showed me a year ago?", Akai asked the taller boy.

"Apparently gone", the boy watched the men come to a conclusion.

The five men came right at them with fists flying. The main target being the smaller Akai. She just smirked as she wove through their clumsy attacks though.

The smaller red-head decided to attack and landed a punch in the first attacker's face. It wasn't strong enough to knock out but enough to cause major pain and disorientation. Akai followed it up with a left kick to the abdomen and, with some impressive flexibility, a standing axe kick with her right foot right on the man's skull, knocking him out.

A second attacker tried to hit her but the tall boy intervened by grabbing the man's shoulder. "Excuse me", he spoke respectfully before he knocked the man off his feet with a ferocious hit to the face.

The little red-headed girl was busy facing off against two of the men at the same time. In the meantime, the taller boy was exchanging blows with the remaining guy and the one he had just knocked down.

"Didn't think screaming really would get me help.", Yuki laughed nervously to herself. Inside she was bewildered. Who the hell were these people?

Sora took another hit to his face but still stayed on his feet. He spun and delivered a fast and powerful roundhouse kick to his assailant's neck. The other guy he was dealing with charged at him with a right hook but the taller boy blocked the swing and answered with an uppercut with a follow up left straight.

Akai was more agile than the lanky teen and weaved between the blows sent her way. One of the men tried to kick her but she side-stepped and grabbed the leg. The other man tried to take advantage of the fact the smaller girl was using both hands to hold onto his ally's leg. This was a mistake as the red-head flipped forward with incredible grace to land a drop kick to the one attacking her while simultaneously twisting the leg of the one who tried to kick her.

The man who got his leg twisted screamed in the unbelievable agony as he fell to the floor. The screaming never stopped as Akai kicked up on her feet and landed a somersault heel drop to the sternum of the man she drop kicked.

"Are you done?", the lanky looking teen approached the smaller girl.

"yeah I'm- shut up", the red-head knocked out the man screaming in agony with a well placed punch. "Good", she nodded.

"Now, are you done?", Sora repeated as he watched the red-head get up.

"I'm good", the girl said with a toothy smile.

Sora nodded and turned to Yuki with his bruised face, his glasses were intact somehow and survived the fight with no damage whatsoever. Yuki looked back with a mixture of awe. Normally one would be afraid if she was at the mercy of the yakuza and then people who had beaten the yakuza but it was an everyday occurence to Yuki so fear was no longer in her emotional scope. She didn't know wether it was from the fact these people had just saved her, beat up six yakuza men without much trouble, the fact that these two were younger than her or the words which came from the boy.

"You should do something with your life besides wasting time with yakuza. You look smart enough for that at least", Sora told her. He turned around and called for the red-head who followed reluctantly at the mention of police.

This was the first meeting between the vagabond Yukishiro and the Aoi family.

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POSTNOTES: Half-inspired chapter hahas. Most of this I just pulled out of my brain forcibly. It was originally supposed to be all about Chiki in this chapter but I changed it to Yuki when I felt that the personality I wanted to establish for her fit the starting scenes more. This is only the first part to Yuki's past. the rest will have to wait. next chapter I hope to wrap Yuki's past up and write a better dialogue.


	6. Gambling and Goals: Yuki meets her wish

PRENOTES: Yuki-chan's history. It's kinda cliche but I like it all the same XD.

**Scene breakers: 3 for scene or POV change, 1 is for flashback.**

**"" is for dialogue**

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Snow covered this day as well. It had been a week after the incident with Benji, Yuki was hanging out at a bar well-known for gambling.

"Man this sucks!", Yuki ranted in her unchangng winter wear (refer to the previous chapter) as she slumped onto the bar counter..

The place was known as the Red Fountain. Aptly named, knowing the bad guys that went in and out of this place. It was located deep in the middle of yakuza territory. It's reputation was so great that it got a local saying of its own. "If they've been in the red fountain, then they've bathed in it". It was kinda disturbing to imagine for people who didn't know the Red Fountain bar but most criminals and corrupt g-men knew.

"Don't tell me you lost?", a man in his late thirties with the beginnings of a bald spot on his head. The man was dressed in a white dress shirt with rolled up sleeves with black pants and a matching black apron. Right now, he was behind the bar cleaning a couple of glasses which were just being used to have a vodka drinking contest.

"Ha! Like that'll ever happen", the gambling girl chugged down her whole glass of milk.

"True enough, you're legendary as it is. If you ever lost, word would spread faster than these drunks lose their money.", the bartender laughed. Let it be told that those drunk guys could really lose their dough.

"Hmph, compliments won't help baldy", Yuki sulked.

"I wasn't exactly singing praises", the bartender sweatdropped. "And my name's Jiamee, not baldy", he corrected.

"It's a stupid name. Baldy sounds more like you", Yuki nodded to herself. Somehow she got drunk with milk.

"I'll have you know that my father named me", Jiamee stated proudly.

"Drunken bet?"

"Yeah", the bartender said sullenly as he continued the washing.

"Hey! Yukishiro!", a skinny looking bum in a beannie called for Yuki.

Yuki turned around to look for the voice's source. She gave him a long hard look before recognizing him. "Saru?", she barely recognized the man. Last the girl had seen, Saru was pretty well-off with a middle class life and look. As middle class as a drug dealer could get anyway. Now, the man was reduced to rags and second, if worse, third-hand clothing with patches.

"Yo!", Saru smiled. There were a couple of gaps though.

Yuki noticed something and asked, "Hey, where are your gold teeth? I seem to remember there being a lot of them. I also seem to remember that the places they were at are where the gaps are now".

Saru looked embarrassed and scratched the back of his head. "Couldn't deal dope anymore so I tried my hand at gambling. I thought it'd be easy seeing as even you could do it. I was wrong and ended up so broke they pulled out my gold teeth as payment", Saru stated. "after they took all my property", he added as an after thought.

Yuki gave him a sorry smile and said, "I feel for ya'". She then gulped down the remnants of her refilled glass of milk.

"Anyway, how 'bout a round of poker?", the man offered.

The local gambling legend just looked at the man oddly before saying, "Didn't you get cleaned out enough? After that story of yours I didn't think you'd still want to have anything to do with gambling."

"Well you thought wrong", Saru laughed.

"No hard feelings", Yuki sighed as she joined the tooth gapped man and his pals' table.

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"And to the victor go the spoils of war", Yuki snickered as she collected the small mountain of cash. "You guys are nowhere near my level yet. Come back in ten years or so", the girl gloated as she got lost in her own little world.

The other guys who were playing with her couldn't believe their eyes. "How'd she win even though we all ganged up on her? She's gotta have the devil's luck or something", one guy said.

"Or she's got the devil himself on her side", the other guy looked a bit shell-shocked.

"Nah, she's the devil herself. Ain't she Jiamee?", Saru asked the bartender who was still working on those glasses.

"She has to be if she's lived this long while cleaning out the local gangs of their cash", Jiamee laughed.

While all this was going on. Yuki was busy counting her money, at least that's what it looked like to others. The truth was that she was thinking of that day one week ago. Those two kids that saved her were wierd. They took down six yakuza without fear of getting mixed up in that sort of business. It almost looked like they were used to it. After three days of research, turns out it was normal.

Aoi Akai, also known as the crimson storm or localy known as Akai No Arashi. She's known for dispatching local troublemakers and juvenile associates of the yakuza. Her nickname was given to her due to the unpredictable and ferocious fighting style of hers as well her pinkish red hair. She was decidedly a common mention in the local underground.

Then came the issue of her partner in crime or partner in crime fighting to be precise. His name was Aoi Sora, he had no nickname but was just as reknowned as the smaller red-head. He was usually present during the crimson storm's fights or appearing in midcombat to either break up or help in the fighting. He wasn't as feared as the crimson storm in terms of fighting abilities but he was a force to be reckoned with as reported by the rumors. He still left an unsettling feeling within Yuki though. Who was he to say that she was wasting her life away?

"Do you really think you should be out here Yuki?", Saru asked the female gambler.

Yuki broke out of her musings and looked at the man incredelously. "You actually think that you have to worry about the great Yuki-sama?", the girl cocked an eyebrow. "That is preposterous!", she made an epic pose and continued, "No one can harm me! I am invincible!". This statement was followed by maniacal laughter. The other patrons in the bar eyed her warily. Some of them were considering to call the loony bin. On the other hand, most of the others were itching to silence her one way or another, preferably by gun.

After around thirty seconds of this, Yuki felt a tug at her leggings so she looked down and asked, "What?".

It was Saru. He made for her to lean down in which she complied. He discreetly whispered into her ear, "You should get down now if you don't want be weighed down with a hundred pounds of lead".

Yuki looked around and noticed all the trigger happy faces glaring at her. "Fine, I'm going", she pouted. The girl collected her winnings and left the bar without another word.

Once the white-haired girl was out the door, Jiamee sighed and asked no one in particular, "I really wonder how she's lived this long".

Yuki suddenly poked her head back in through the doors and blew a raspberry and screamed, "Jerks!". Quick as a flash, she retracted her noggin' and ran off before the bar's doors were turned into swiss chees with bullets meant for her.

Saru looked at Jiamee and approached the bar for a drink as he said, "You and I both, my friend. You and I both".

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--

--

Yuki was laughing her head off as she traversed the silent streets of the yakuza owned neighborhood. It had been awhile since she'd pull a stunt like that and man did it feel good. Anyway, as her chuckles died down, Yuki's mind got down to business. She wouldn't say it in front of Saru but he was right. This was no time to be playing around in the yakuza neighborhood knowing that Benji and most of the guys from this certain yakuza gang were sore losers.

"Wonder where I should lay low for now?", Yuki asked herself. She didn't do much besides gambling and withering away the money she hoarded from it. Maybe she'd hang out at the mall outside of yakuza territory. She was only fifteen and with her messed up clothes, she was sure to get kicked out of almost every legitimate casino in town. It wasn't really worth taking money from such weak systematic money cyclers like them.

In the end, she decided that the mall wouldn't be so bad with the winter sales almost on at this time of the year. The problem was that she was being hunted down right about now in the neighborhood. If she was spotted before getting out of yakuza territory, she was as good as dead. This was the reason she was currently climbing an old abandoned building. She was going to use her secret escape route. It was from her childhood days of stealing varying food items for survival and it still served as such from time to time when times like these came.

It wasn't much of a surprise for the girl to be shocked then when she opened the door to the building's roof to find a huge mob of men in varying articles of clothing waiting there. "What the-?", was all Yuki managed when two arms came from behind and held her captive.

"Welcome miss Yuki", came an unwelcome but undeniably familiar voice to the white-haired girl's ears.

The captive girl immediately located the source as the mob of men parted for one wearing a crisp dark green suit with a double-breasted jacket, black dress shirt, red tie and a thick overcoat. Yuki's eyes went as large as saucers. Her mind was in a certain state of shock. "Oh hello there Benji!", she greeted sweetly. If there was ever a time to suck-up it would be now.

"Please", he waved the greeting of with his gloved hands. "Enough pleasantries. I'm here to talk business", Benji smiled, Yuki didn't like the looks of it though.

"Business? You mean money", Yuki asked nervously.

"You catch on rather quickly", he approached her.

"I don't have much on me right now so can we keep this transaction small?", Yuki gave a pleading smile.

Benji shook his head and said, "You don't have to worry. I'm not after petty change like that. What I'm after is from last week". Benji gave her a wicked grin.

Yuki felt chilled to the bone at the grin which had absolutely nothing to do with the fact she was wearing a mini-skirt in the middle of winter. She was sweating bullets now. "So you're going to get back at me for what happened last week?", she asked.

"Oh no no no my dear", Benji corrected, "I am after the same thing as last week.". He approached the captive girl and whispered in her ear, "I'm after the money you've hoarded up my dear Winter Witch".

The captive girl immediately struggled as she heard this and in the process gave Benji a rather painful headbutt. As soon as she set her bearings straight, Yuki screamed in protest"What fell from heaven and smacked you in the noggin' hard enough to make you believe that I'd give you my three hundred million!".

"Hahaha! I see. I wasn't quite sure of the amount, thank you for sharing that piece of information", now this would be the part that would entail intimidation by Benji so that the girl would give him what he wants. it was unfortunate that he didn't look all that tough as he was trying to cover his nosebleed after a headbutt by aforementioned girl.

Yuki raged on as she screamed, "So you were after my personal stash after all and not your stupid gang's money?".

"Please", Benji recovered from the nose bleed with a snarl. "a mere twenty million is nothing compared to the treasure trove you just told me about."

"Not a chance", she said in kind.

"It's not like you have much of a choice my dear", Benji gestured to one of his men who pulled out a knife.

Yuki took one look at the hawaiian shirt wearing fuzzy chin and his glinting knife before she scoffed, "That's just old you know"

"Don't worry little girl. I'm good at what I do", fuzzy chin winked vulgarly as he reached for her with the knife.

--

--

--

"Are you ready to talk now?", Benji asked the captive girl.

"N-n-n-no", Yuki stuttered as her teeth chattered from the cold. She couldn't help it, blood seeped from the cuts on her and the draft from her ripped up outfit.

"Please speak soon. It has been ten minutes and I doubt that blood loss will ensue before the next five pass.", Benji stepped towards her and pulled on her hair to face him. "The cold will get to you soon though. At least talk before losing consciousness.", he said impatiently.

Yuki knew he was right. The cold was getting to her, the warmth of her blood, seeping away through her wounds didn't help with the freezing sensation. Her vision was starting to fade as well but her determination didn't. "I'm not teling you anything", she coughed as she sucked in cold air.

Benji did not look amused and tightened his grip on the girl's hair. "I want that money you little brat and and I want it now", the man silently demanded.

"Give me one good reason why I should?", Yuki smirked through her cuts and pain.

Benji gave a sadistic smile. "Besides your life?", he asked innocently before whispering in her ear, "Snow Castle".

Yuki's eyes widened in disbelief. "How'd you know that name?", she demanded clearly.

"Hahaha... I am part of the local gangs miss Yuki. Finding such information is but child's play to me.", Benji grinned as he looked at her helpless state. "To imagine", he began. "the once reknowned prize gambler of the northern Yakuza gang, revered and feared under the name Snow Castle but she disappeared all of a sudden seven years ago and is now going under another legendary name within our territory", he told his men who seemed to be clueless as to where this was going. He fixed the captive with a gloating look as he said, "Isn't this right? Winter Witch?".

The name caused a chain reaction of whispers amongst the men. Winter Witch, the name was had become legendary in just the span of five years. Not many people knew what she looked like but the Winter Witch was considered a force of nature that came with the season she was named after. She comes and gambles in the biggest organized gambling matches and wins hundreds of millions per year but as soon as the last snowflake melts, she disappears without a trace, only to emerge once again as the snowy season begins.

Yuki's hands seemed to curl up into fists on their own accord. She did not look up but her breathing evened out, as if she wasn't cold or injured at all.

Benji savored the freezing fury that radiated from the girl. "Unlike the saying that there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. You're past just seems to keep getting darker and darker.", he spoke. "I believe your humble beginnings originate from the Fubuki group? I heard they found you and had planned to turn you into a 'servant'", the greedy man uttered the word suggestively. "But", he paused, "you began to show prowess in the field of gambling at the tender age of five. Soon you had beaten the best players within Fubuki and was chosen as the representative gambler of the group. No one in the area could match your cool facade and logic, impregnable defenses as well as unescapable traps, it was like besieging a castle of snow, earning you the name, Snow Castle."

"You've done your homework. Should I give you a biscuit?", Yuki said coldly without looking away from the ground.

"I'd prefer your money"

"Go to hell"

"Not quite yet", Benji said. "The name Snow Castle has more to it than meets the eye doesn't it miss Witch?", he called Yuki by her title. She didn't answer though. "it is not only a title bestowed upon you for your skills but also the name of a bank account that you own."

Yuki's anger just became much more fierce after hearing those words. "How much do you know?", she asked darkly.

"I know everything there is to know miss Witch. My sources tell me that the account holds enough to start up a country's war preparations. It gives me chills just thinking of the number of digits.", Benji cackled.

"Then you should know what that money is for, so leave it alone", Yuki gave him a glare. This one actually held much more emotion than the others and took Benji and a couple of his men aback.

"you're in no position to demand such things Witch", Benji spoke disdainfully at her glare. He stepped closer and punched her right in the face, "I on the other hand am".

"The money is for them, not anyone else's . Not yours, not even mine. It's for them", the captive girl mumbled.

"Then what if I told you that I know who they are? What do you think I would do with that information?"

Yuki's eyes snapped wide-open and lookeed incredelously at Banji, "You wouldn't"

"Oh", the man said silkily. "But I already have. At my word, my men will kill the ones you've been protecting for so long. Unless of course, you give me the money."

"You...", Yuki was so angry she couldn't even see straight anymore, let alone glare. "bastard", she grit her teeth.

"I'm waiting Witch, or are you trying to cast another spell like you did last week?", he taunted. "For. Your. Information. We're. At. The. Top. Of. A. Roof.", Benji slugged her between every word as he remembered the the humiliation at that time. "There is no way for your saviors to get here but through my men who are in the building.", Benji smirked.

"Hyaa!", a familiar battle cry echoed in the sky as Benji was sent flying through the air with a boot mark on his face. "That's what you get for picking on girls jerk!", the newcomer blew a raspberry.

The yakuza lackeys were pretty shocked but Yuki was mildly conscious and saw it all. 'De javu?', she thought. She surveyed her savior through blurred eyes. Same petite and feminine stature. Same pinkish red pigtails. Same winter outfit. "Akai no Arashi", she recalled in a whisper.

"Urhk!", the man who was holding Yuki released her and crumpled to the floor.

Yuki fell upon the snowy roof as well. She winced as the cold snow made contact with her bare skin. She was used to the cold though so it wouldn't affect her so much. She was much thankful and surprised though when a warm coat awkwardly fell on top of her. She struggled to keep it from obscuring her line of sight and saw another familiar figure. "Aoi Sora", she said weakly as he was dressed in a loose seater and winter pants. His multi-colored scarf was not in sight and he looked much more grim than the last time she saw him.

"Sorry we're late", Akai suddenly popped out of nowhere and was doing stretches. "There was a hold up on the way", Akai smiled toothily.

Sora looked at Akai questioningly before asking, "Haven't you warmed up enough back there already?". Sora gestured to the open roof door where unconscious guards were.

"M-my guards!", Benji clutched his dislocated jaw and bleeding nose which was broken once again. When he saw what Sora was pointing at.

Yuki was officially creeped out now. Benji had said that there were dozens of his men spread throughout the building. Did it mean they beat every single one of them?.

"Yes we did", Akai said excitedly. The surprised damsel in distress didn't notice that she had voiced her thoughts out loud.

"We have more pressing issues to deal with Akai", Sora called his little sisters attention to the large number of men surrounding them.

"Grr...", Benji got up and glared at the two. "You may have beaten my men but it didn't look like you got out without taking a couple of hits.", Benji smiled manically as he pointed the fact out to his shell-shocked men.

Yuki heard his claim and noticed them as well after a closer look at the two. Akai seemed winded and a bit shaky but looked overall unharmed except for nicks from knives. Sora was worse for wear though with his roughed up clothes, split lip, bruised face and a bleeding cut on his left arm. Just when Yuki had her hopes up, they just seemed to crash down. These two had just fought amultitude of men inside the building and came out wounded. Right now they were outnumbered, out-armed and wounded. Even with their skill, it didn't seem plausible for two wounded children to beat thirty or so gang members.

"What are you talking about?", Sora asked them cluelessly. He looked at himself with fascination and noticed his wounds saying, "Well it seems that I am indeed injured".

"Won't change anything though", Akai brought her fists together. "You're still going down", she ran at them without warning. In the blink of an eye, one man was already on his knees with Akai using him as a stepping stool to land a jumping spin kick to another.

Sora wasn't standing around either as he tackled another man along the front lines and punched any other that came into his sights. The ensuing fight was fierce but thankfully not much blood was spilled even with the yakuza men bearing knives.

"Eat this!", Akai cried as she threw herself forward, swinging a right hook at a man's abdomen with all her strength and using the momentum, did a jumping heel kick to the man's face. She landed on her left hand and feet, it was abarely a moment after she landed that she charged forth to bring pain once more.

Yuki couldn't believe how that girl moved, it was almost animalistic. She turned her pink eyes to Sora and saw him using none of the same finesse Akai did but plain old power to subdue his opponents. He punched a guy in the face and kicked away another one coming from his side. One more man was charging at him from the side to stab him with a knife but he grabbed the man's hand and threw him into his compatriots. Even though it was only the whte-haired girl's second time watching them fight, she thought that they seemed to be acting more fiercely than they were last week.

Akai and Sora were back to back in the middle of the mob. "There's just too many", Sora spoke.

"They just keep getting back-up", Akai complained. This statement by Akai was more accurate. The tide of the fight was in their favor and they pushed it to the limit but everytime they took the numbers of men down, they just stood back up.

Benji laughed as he watched from the sidelines. "Did you actually think you can win? These men are nothing like the ones from last week. They're seasoned fighters from our gang. You don't stand a chance.", he gloated.

"So this is the best your gang has to offer?", Sora openly taunted.

Akai pouted, "Hey that's my line".

Yuki was shaking in fear now. What was he thinking? They were outnumbered and injured. The enemy was armed and weren't lagging far behind in skill. At this point, they may as well be dead. "Get away from here!"

The two Aoi's and the gang of men turned to Yuki. She had screamed it out loud and was on her feet. "Leave! This isn't your problem. You don't even know me so stop helping.", Yuki commanded the two. She didn't want others to get hurt as long as she could help it. She didn't want to repeat what had happened back then. Not now, not ever.

"What are you talking about?", Akai asked her as if the tan-girl was dumb. "This is my problem because I like justice. It doesn't matter if it was you we were putting our necks out for. Nothing would change", Akai grinned.

"My sister's problems are also my problems", Sora spoke as he hid his expression under the glare of his glasses.

"Did you forget that I'm still here?", Benji yelled in outrage, which was impressive with his broken jaw. "Witch, if you don't get these two out of my sights at the count of ten", he took out a celphone and pressed a couple of buttons.

"Hmph!", Akai regarded him. "Like my bro said, is that the best you got?".

"If it is", Sora cracked his knuckles.

"Then we already won", Akai struck a guts pose with her fingers in a V. A rumbling sound echoed in the distance and everyone but the two bega to look around in apprehension. What was happening? Even the snow that lay so white and still on the ground began to reverberate.

"Graaah!"

A cacophony of battle cries sounded as teenagers began to pour from the roof door and jump on from the nearby rooftops.

"Wh-what's this?", Benji looked around in bewilderment.

"I don't understand, what's going on?", Yuki scanned the mass of moving bodies with just as much confusion. Falling on her rear in utter disbelief that a stampede of students was happening before her.

"Reinforcements", Sora explained quietly.

"Have arrived! Woohooo!", Akai cheered.

the taller teen who stood out with pure height, fixed his glasses and complained, "You and your theatrics."

"Hey!", Akai gave him a look. "Heroes of justice have to look cool y'know?"

The teens that had come up were dressed in the most outrageous fashions while some came with their school uniforms on. They were all clearly juvenile gang members, sukebans and banchos of the like.

"Oi! Baby, we came like you wanted!", a rather decently muscled boy half-a-dozen inches taller than Akai with a rugged face in a stereo-type gakuran coat and a headband that said "Victory!" and "Love!" stopped to chat. "How 'bout a date?", he asked.

"For the love of- Souta. Didn't I already say no? And besides, I'm only ten.", Akai said exasperatedly. She spun the larger boy around and sent him off with a shoving kick, "Now get out there and fight".

"Sakura reporting", appeared a girl in a classic seifuku with a hospital issue eye patch and dark-hair that framed her cute but stern face, reaching only just above her shoulders. "Sora-sama, we're at your beck and call", she blushed lightly as she looked up to the much taller and elder teen.

"It's always comforting to know that there is someone I can trust", Sora nodded thankfully to the girl. Sakura left with another bow to join in the fight.

Yuki watched as the battle which had begun erupted into a full scale war between yakuza and the juvenile gangs. "Are you okay?", a polite voice broke her attention from the fight. It was Sora, with his glasses still somehow intact.

"I am", Yuki answered softly. With everything that was happening she felt weak as she did all those years ago.

"I seem to detect frustration", Sora looked away from the girl to watch the fight. "Didn't I tell you before? Your wasting your time in this world. You don't belong here", Sora said plainly.

Yuki felt the anger which was already overflowing from within her burst. "Who are you to say such things?", she screamed at Sora. "You don't know me. You don't know what I've been through. You don't even know what I'm doing all this for!", she ranted. "So why! Why can you say such things like you know me?", she strained her voice.

"Because I saw them", Sora looked straight at her.

"because you saw them?", Yuki echoed.

"Your eyes", Sora clarified, "they didn't look satisfied at all. Not with the money, not with the thrill of dodging death, not with anything here. That's why I told you that you should do something better with your life."

Tears began to gather in Yuki's pink eyes at the thought, "I know. I'm not really happy here but, there are people I want to protect and take care of. It's something I can't do any other way.", she cried. Tears fell, the odd hiccup and sudden change in her breathing made it hard for her to say the next words, "Y-y-you w-would-d-d-n't kn-n-n-now-w. My c-c-c-circumst-t-tances."

"Maybe", Sora surprised Yuki by kneeling down and enveloping her in a hug. "I might not know everything but what I do know I'll tell you. Just to ease your mind.", he paused and gathered his thoughts. "You used to work as a representative gambler for the Fubuki gang in the north with the name Snow Castle. You won them large sums of money and earned their respect", Sora paused, unsure of what to say next but plowed on anyway. With a much darker voice this time, "up until one day seven years ago, the group was completely anihilated by ambitious criminals who wanted to overthrow them. Two years later an orphanage was put up with the benefactor using the alias 'Snow Castle'. The same name as you".

"So you know that much", Yuki cried into the taller boy. "I already knew what was going to happen. I had already predicted it with the skills I learned in gambling. I'd seen them roaming the streets, gathering men and weapons. I even warned the old men about it but they wouldn't listen. They thought that nobody would oppose them as long as they held the money, they were wrong.", she paused and sniffled, "then I decided to escape before things got bad and I asked some of my friends here if they wanted to come with me but they didn't listen either. That cold snowy night, I ran alone, never to be heard from again.", the tears came at full force now and threatened to encrust Sora's clothing with frozen tears. "I couldn't protect anyone, what good were my skills of analysis and prediction in gambling? What good were those things I had mastered? I became a gambler so that my friends wouldn't be abused anymore but in the end they died and I couldn't save them.". "Once I got over what happened", Yuki shuddered, trying to suppress another fit of tears. "I made an orphanage and became its anonymous benefactor, using my old bank account, Snow Castle. I thought that maybe I could keep other from going through what I did and maybe through helping them, I could somehow make up for the past."

"Yukishiro-san", the taller boy held the weeping girl. "You don't have to bear all this pain. Tell people about it."

"But I'm afraid", Yuki shuddered. "I'm afraid that no one will listen to me."

The taller teen held her closer and said, "At the very least Akai and I will hear you out. Everyone has a right to enjoy themselves, even if they want to repent for the things thay did".

The way Sora spoke the last part struck a chord in Yuki and she thought, 'Maybe, he understands me because he knows what it's like as well. To bear a burden like this."

"This isn't over yet", Benji came from the side with a limp he didn't have before.

"It already is", Sora replied emotionlessly before turning to the injured man.

"Benji", Yuki barely whispered.

"The fight maybe", the man in the suit resigned with a grin. "But", he pulled out a gun on them with one hand while the other was armed with a celphone. "negotiations have just begun", he cackled. "I still have my trump card."

"The children!", Yuki screamed in realization.

Benji grinned, "That's right". "At the touch of a button, those pesky brats you've been risking your life for will be dead.", he continued to laugh manically.

"I'll give you the money, I don't care anymore just-", Yuki pushed away from Sora and approached Benji as she begged but was held back by the taller boy. The white-haired girl looked at Sora with a look that asked what-the-hell-was-he-doing.

The reply was only the shake of his head. "Don't", he commanded steadily.

"Are you telling me to abandon them?", Yuki asked in horror.

"trust me", Sora silently mouthed.

"So what's it going to be Winter Witch, your money?", he cocked the gun. "Or the brats", he held up the phone to show that it was on speed dial.

Yuki looked from Benji to Sora. She didn't know what to do. Should she play iit safe and just give up? or take a chance and trust Sora? When she finally made a decision, she stepped back by Sora's side and gave him a small nod as a go-ahead to take control of the situation.

Sora saw this and smiled, whispering, "Thank you". He stood and faced Benji, "I'm sorry but we'll have to refuse your kind offer."

"You'd give-up on the brats just for some money? You're more heartless than I took you for Witch", Benji taunted.

"No!", Yuki stepped-up but was held back by Sora.

"Don't lose your cool", the taller boy whispered to her. "We're gambling for our lives. One wrong move and we lose. Do you understand?", he gave her a small smile that only she could see.

Yuki understood. She understood perfectly as she herself was a gambler but, "This is...".

"You are the Winter Witch", he cut her off. "The rumored unbeatable gambler who only shows up in winter at the highest stakes games. The one who once held the name Snow Castle and garnered the respect of gang leaders. Don't lose your head now that the stakes are at their highest."

"But I don't have all the pieces to win", she reasoned her fear.

He smiled confidently, "You have me"

Yuki took a deep breath. Sora was right, she decided to trust him but she had lost her cool. It was very unlike her. The higher the stakes made her that much more focused on winning. Right now, she didn't have control, she didn't know what her hand could do against her opponent's but she'd trust it. Yuki stepped back again.

"Can I have the money now or are you waiting for me to have those brats killed?", Benji threatened impatiently.

"Like I had been saying", Sora spoke as if there was no gang war happenning right beside him or the fact that there was a gun pointing at him or the other fact that lives hung in the balance. "We'll keep both the money and the children".

"Is that your final answer?", Benji kept his manic look.

"Yes", Sora nodded politely.

Benji frowned as he decided, "You disappoint me Witch. I thought you to be smarter than to let this boy handle things". He scrunched up his nose in disgust, "I actually thought you'd be smarter than to trust a complete stranger.". Benji then grinned as he pressed the call button on his cel, "I'll just put those brats out of their misery and soon after, you".

The phone rang and echoed through the air for the three involved in the conversation. The war-like battle by them meant nothing as to what was about to go down. The other end picked up and Benji immediately ordered, "Kill the kids".

"Right boss!", a gruff voice came from the other end. Footsteps and a bit of crying could be heard on the other end of the line.

Yuki's fists shook with the strength of her tightening them that they almost looked likely to hit someone. 'Please know what you're doing', she looked pleadingly at the boy she had bet all her hopes on.

"C'm 'ere", the gruff voice was heard as he grabbed one of the children who was identified by their scream as a young boy. The sound of a gun cocking could be heard through the screaming and the expected bang came after, though slightly different.

"Bruce! We can't handle the- Gwaah!", a new voice suddenly interrupted.

"Graah!", the gruff man's voice soon followed as two thuds were heard.

Benji's phone gave off a clattering sound as if the one on the other end fell to the ground. "We'll get you guys out soon enough so stay calm a younger voice came from the phone.".

"What's happening over there!", Benji screamed into the phone.

Yuki looked over to Sora and saw his lips twitch upwards. 'He planned this?', she thought.

"Answer dammit!", Benji swore into the phone.

"Oh sorry 'bout that boss", the youthful voice on the other phone answered.

Benji sighed and shouted in, "Good now go kill those brats."

"What?", the youthful voice said confusedly. "Oh sorry, wrong boss", the youth answered brightly. "Hey boss! We saved the kids! Do we eat yakiniku now?", the answer this time was much louder.

Sora called out, "Ofcourse!, My treat. Just don't forget to tell the old man I sent you".

"What?", Benji looked incredelously at his phone as it elicited a whoop of joy. "What is this?", he demanded. It didn't take long for everything to click though. "You knew", he turned to the tall teen before him. "You knew everything and predicted everything. You had some of your little friends defend the place didn't you? Didn't you?", he threw down the celphone and held the gun with both hands.

Sora looked perfectly numb to the situation as he spoke, "It's easy to read those who flaunt all their cards". He stood taunting Benji, "So will you shoot or is that gun just for show?".

"For show?", the desperate man scoffed. "We'll see about that", Benji squeezed the trigger. It fired and sent a bullet whizzing towards Sora. The tall teen was quick to react in contrast to what his large frame suggested, as he dropped to the ground and rolled out of Benji's line of fire. Benji let loose a couple more shots at Sora which did nothing but send bits of snow up in the air. "Stop moving", he ordered as he fired some more rounds. Sora ignored this and found some cover behind a ventilation unit. Benji spotted Yuki and decided to stop wasting his bullets on Sora to take out the whole reason for this incident. "You", he trained the gun at the white-haired girl.

"Huh?", Yuki was so busy with watching how Sora would fair that she had forgotten to get out of sight as well.

"I'll make you regret not giving me that money!", Benji glared with an insane grin.

Sora checked for the reason why the gunshots stopped. He sneaked a peek to see that the gun in Benji's hands was now aimed at Yuki. "Run!", he shouted hastily. He tried to m ae his way towards Benji to stop him from firing but it was to late.The shot was fired and Yuki could do no more than freeze like a deer in headlights.

It was most miraculous though, when the familiar color of pinkish red hair engulfed Yuki's sight before feeling herself being tackled down. The impact of the fall was lesssened by the snow but it was enough to bring her back to her senses though. She looked down at the one who tackled her and found, "Akai?".

"Geez, you're a walking disaster", Akai complained. The snow around them began to turn red.

Yuki noticed and got the smaller girl off her to check where the wound was. The bullet was lodged in Akai's leg. The elder girl ripped a bit from the remains her tattered jacket and used it as a make-shift bandage for the little red-head. "Don't move you've been shot", she told Akai as the red-head began to stir.

The usually agile fighter groaned, "That explains why I feel kind of numb". She looked over her wound and saw the sad face Yuki was making. "Don't worry this isn't the first time it's happened", she reassured the white-haired girl. She then looked towards Sora who was running right for the man who shot her. She screamed one command at her brother, "Sock him one for me!".

Sora didn't show that he had heard but ran on. The only sign he was aware of Akai's request was him muttering to himself, "With pleasure". Before Benji had time to even aim at the tall teen. It was futile as Sora just gave him enough time to take a hit from a wound-up right hook and a follow-up whip-like kick to the stomache which knocked his target out from the impact that jogged the lungs. Benji was sent back first into the snow. Sora stood over the yakuza's fallen form and said, "Hurt my sister again and you'll wish you were in a maximum security prison."

He made his way to his sister who seemed to do just fine. She looked at him with a pained expression and joked, "It's been so long since I've last been shot that I forgot how it feels like."

"Don't talk", Sora began to work with practiced expertise as he relieved Yuki of her work in keeping the bleeding to a minimum by pressing down on it with the make-shift bandage. He assessed her wound to the thigh and examined, "Luckily it didn't hit the bone. Muscle damage isn't something a couple of weeks of your insane rehab exercises won't fix."

"Thanks or the heads up", Akai said sarcastically, as if she didn't already realize it with her pained efforts to move. She looked elsewhere and spotted Yuki, who was crying. She furrowed her brows and asked, "Hey what's wrong?"

Yuki looked at her and said, "I'm sorry". She wiped at her tears which she was somehow able to hold back. "This is my fault", she said, "The two of you getting involved in my business. I should've just given him the money".

"Don't be an idiot", Akai told her. "Like I said, I'm a hero of justice. Protecting the weak is my job", Akai laughed arrogantly. "Now stop crying, I thought you were a legendary gambler or something?"

Sora bopped her on the head which caused her to drop down face-first onto the snow covered roof, "Settle down, you've just been shot. Now stay put till we're finished cleaning up."

"Cleaning up?", Yuki asked curiously.

Sora looked at her and nodded solemnly, "Yes, it's over". He looked over to the side where the brawl was and the snow-haired girl followed his line of sight.

Where the fight was only minutes ago had been resolved with the elder men dropping like flies.

"So, that's it? It's over? They won't bother me anymore?", she asked.

"Yeah", Sora refrained from looking up as he answered and fixed Akai's wound at the same time.

Yuki looked away, seemingly solemn for a couple minutes before suddenly bursting out, "Awesome! I'm back in business!". She did a small dance of victory, which was her standard one from gambling games. Everyone gave her a wierd look and passed it off with smiles, laughs and random remarks, most of which were "wierdo". Little did they know that Yuki was actually thinking deeply inspite of her silly actions. She blamed herself for getting them hurt, even if they did get involved on their own volition. She had decided to repay them somehow and that is why...

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Two weeks later.

"Yes! I am raring to go!", Akai shouted as she performed a couple of flips and flying kicks. She and Sora had just arrived at the Aoi household after a physical check-up for Akai and her recovery from the gunshot wound.

"Careful with your leg, you just got it to walk normally yesterday.", Sora reminded her as he opened the door to the main complex.

"Don't be such a party pooper. I'm sure Hirari and Miyoru have some cookies and warm coco in the living room so let's go!", she dashed off to the living room and opened it. She didn't step foot inside though.

Sora came up from behind saying, "i just said to be careful with that...leg...".

Sora and Akai were now at the doorway staring at a certain someone. A certain someone they didn't think they'd see who was now munching on snacks and guzzling down coco at a frightening rate. The person spotted them and waved, "Hi y'all. From this day onward I'm gonna be staying with you guys."

"Yuki", Akai and Sora chorused.

"Yep", she smiled cheekily.

--

Now back to present day.

Yuki snapped out of her reminiscing as she heard Sora's shout from the door that he was home. She turned to the blonde and said, "You should go back right now. Sora will be looking for you."

"Ah, well. Thank you for cheering me up Yuki-chan", Shamal smiled brightly. She got up and left to meet up with Sora and continue her cooking lesson for the day.

Yuki sat there and thought it over a bit more. Yeah, Sora was right, she had been wasting her life away in the underworld. Thanks to him she could now do as she wanted and achieve her goals. His words freed her from her self-imposed penance. She would still continue to fund the orphanage and decided to fund a couple more but her main wish had finally come to her. She knew what she wanted to do, she wasnted to show the world how street urchins like her lived their lives on the streets so she decided to become a writer. Having just started last year, Yuki began practicing by writing children's storybooks and small novellas. When she had enough experience, she would write a book about how her life was on the streets to tell the world to prevent those kinds of things.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES: laziness and writer's block to plow through. Not to mention start of senior year and college applications coming up. Gah! It's insane. Anyway time for the usual thanks for reading my story bit. Now for the OMAKE.

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OMAKE:

Two hours later.

Yuki ran through the house and straight for the nearest bathroom on the second floor. She grabbed the knob to find it locked. She then slammed the bottom of her fist on it in a crude form of a knock. "Hey, who's in there?", Yuki demanded.

"It's me", came Akai's brash answer.

Oh good Lord, not Akai. She took twice as long as anybody in the bathroom for everything. "Get out of there baby!(Akai's nickname is aka-chan which sounds like the word baby in japanese)", Yuki banged on the door.

"Hey I'm busy taking a shower here!", Akai yelled back.

"Oh", Yuki felt her stomache lurch and twist into knots. Oh that spaghetti really was a bad idea to chow down.


	7. Hanabi and Hurt: Hayate meets Heartbreak

PRENOTES: Back to work on this ficcy. Thanks for staying with me so far guys. I'm going back to canon characters this time to appease the people who dislike my OCs. (Bows and worships computer) Anyway back to the topic at hand. A bit of Hayate in this fic for Hayate lovers.

**3 scenebreakers for POV or scene change while 1 is for flashbacks.**

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Hayate walked along the suburban streets near her home. It was midnight and he she couldn't stay still, it was Christmas eve after all. She and the Wolkenritter had just taken their leave for a vacation to celebrate Christmas with Nanoha and their friends. To their horro-- uh surprise, upon coming home, they were greeted with a feast by Shamal. Hayate had planned to make the Christmas dinner but Shamal already finished. All that was left was to sit down and enjoy it(hopefully). In the end the food turned out to be spectacular.They all commented on how good Shamal had become at cooking. Vita even asked how she got so good. The lake knight just smiled sheepishly in response and said that it was a secret.

It was quite a bit to take in, Shamal cooking a miraculously scrumptious meal. 'Yes, a miracle of the highest order.', Hayate giggled at her exaggerated train of thought. Still, last they partook of her food the only thing they could touch was the soup without risk of getting sent to the hospital. Her mind had more than just Shamal's rising skills in cooking to think about that warranted a stroll in the dead of night without anyone else's knowledge.

These past few days, she began to feel something she had never felt before. She began to feel lonely. Hayate couldn't explain the loneliness she felt, even the company of the wolkenritter and everyone could not completely cover it. The most disturbing part was that one of her seniors in the TSAB noticed and teased her saying, "Maybe you just need a boyfriend?". The whole office she was working in that time heard and began to laugh jovially at the joke but Hayate couldn't help but burn from the embarassment. The senior wasn't far-off actually, she already had an idea of what it was since she'd felt something like it before but it had never been this bad. In the past, Hayate just pushed back those emotions and believed that they'd get in the way of her goal to make-up for what happened during the book of darkness incident.

Hayate looked darkly at the road in remembering the case. Her magical device, Reinforce along with her and the Wolkenritter were central suspects in the case. It had made quite the commotion at the TSAB seeing as it was a lost logia of immeasurable power that had a history with the bureau. For the sake of all the people who had been hurt and to make up for all the things the wolkenritter had done, she took it upon herself to atone for it all by working herself at the bureau.

A wonderful smell of lightly salted pork broth wafted through the air. It caught the pondering girl's attention and attracted her to its source. It was a rather decently sized noodle cart located by the river side(my she had walked a ways from home). Big enough to hold five people eating but small and light enough to pull by one person. It had a traditional feel to it with the wooden make and high curtains with the kanji for various foods written on them. Noodles, buns, tea: just to name a few. All these combined to make Hayate to stopby and have a quick bowl, it was almost midnight after all and dinner was almost six hours ago. She checked her pockets for any money but found none.

"I must have left my wallet at home", Hayate sighed in disappointment. "And it smelled so nice too", Hayate grumbled.

A bowl of piping hot noodles was audibly placed on the wooden counter. "It's on the house.", the youthful voice of the owner of the cart told her.

She was surprised from the sound of his voice. It sounded like he was still in his teens or something, she couldn't see his face after all because of the curtains. She parted the obstruction as she entered with a thank you. It was cut-short however when she saw the face of this owner. "Aoi-san?", she asked in surprise.

"Yagami-san, I seem to be running into you everywhere nowadays, besides our meetings over the district fair.", Sora was fixing another bowl of hot ramen for himself as well a small plate with sauce in it. He reached for a handle stuck into the top of the cart beside the stove but paused when he saw Hayate watching his actions. He retracted his hand and pulled out another sauce plate filled a bit with the same viscous liquid in his sauce plate. He placed the second plate in front of her before pulling the handle on the wooden cart top.

Hayate was about to dig in to the bowl of steamng noodles when she had noticed Sora reaching for a handle on his cart's surface by the pot burner. It seemed he had noticed that she was watching him and placed a sauce plate filled with a viscous dark liquid before her. The moment Sora pulled on the handle was what surprised her though. The wooden cart top came off and beneath was a multitude of chinese dimsum stored in large bamboo steamers. One had dumplings, another had chicken's feet, another had spareribs, the list went on and on. "Wow", Hayate couldn't help but be impressed with the wide selection. Truth be told she was practically drooling at the mouth. Never had she seen such a large amount of food before her, not even Shamal's over the top feast just several hours back could begin to compare(If only she knew).

"Dig in", Sora invited her with a courteous nod of his head. He took a pair of chopsticks and divided the piece of wood into two pieces, following the cut across the length. he tested them out and gave a polite "Itadakimasu" before digging into his bowl.

Hayate began to work on her bowl of noodles as well after a more hearty version of the pre-meal phrase. She started off with a dumpling, with it being the most familiar to her. She dipped it into the sauce in the small plate and took a bite. The girl could barely hold in her squeal of approval. the sauce was nice and sweet, accompanying the saltiness and aroma of the dumpling but not overpowering so.

"I'm glad you like hoysen sauce", Sora told her as he ate. Hayate nodded and began to sample the various foodstuff's in the cart. Dumplings, siomai, steam spring rolls, hakao, beefballs, Hayate could only eat so much.

She was distracted from the meal when Sora placed a teacup in front of her saying, "There's no need to rush, no one else will be coming at this hour. Just enjoy the food and fireworks."

"Fireworks?", Hayate asked him curiously. It was Christmas and there were no nearby malls or parks that were holding firework shows.

"My family", Sora explained, "Since I'm out here working during Christmas Eve. They light fireworks to celebrate with me."

Hayate looked at him curiously. "Why fireworks? Can't you just go home early?", Hayate asked him.

Sora took a sip from his tea cup and said sadly, "I keep my cart open till 1AM. Clean-up will take thirty minutes and by the time I reach home it'll be 2.". Sora looked at the contents of his teacup quite fondly. He started, "My younger sisters are pretty fond of fireworks. Two years ago Chiki, my youngest sister, cried asking me to celebrate Christmas Eve together. She said she had gotten some fireworks for everyone to see aat midnight. Ofcourse I said that it was impossible, but that night when the clock struck twelve. Fireworks shot up with a clear view for me on this riverside. That morning I went home, everyone was asleep in the living room with packs of fireworks strewn about."

Hayate noticed Sora stop and asked, "What happened next?"

Sora gave her an unnoticeable smile, "I tidied up the place and as soon as they woke up I gave them a stern talking to about leaving such dangerous things lying about when they slept. Since then, we'd celebrate Christmas Eve like this."

"That's nice", Hayate smiled. She really admired Sora's family, they must be really close-knit for them to do something like that. "It must be nice to have a family that cares so much for you.", Hayate commented.

Sora snagged a hakao from one of its respective bamboo steamer and dipped it in sauce as he said, "I sense that your family is no less dedicated to you.". Sora gave her a look as he chewed on the shrimpy delicacy.

"I know", Hayate replied with a hint of pride.

Sora knew as well. If he was any normal boy he'd guess that he'd have ran away during the time that he was picking Hayate up for the dinner meeting. Those two were really laying on the hate to any who dared to take Hayate away from them. It almost reminded him of knights protecting their princess. His thoughts were brought to a halt though due to the interruption of the questions by the brunette before him.

"I know it's obvious by now but I can't help but ask. Is this cart really yours? Is it the reason why you wanted to decline the invitation a month before? is this why you're so skilled at-", asked one after the other in an energetic and gossipy fashion.

Sora cut her off with his gaze and nodded, "I'll answer these question but one at a time.". Sora emptied his tea cup and poured himself another steaming one. "Now", he began, "yes, this cart is mine. I run it as a source of livelihood. My family is only composed of my three elder sisters and two younger sisters. That is why I keep this place running from 7PM till 1AM and the reason why I initially declined that invitation to the dinner meeting.".

"You don't have any parents?", Hayate was surprised.

Sora nodded, "The same as your household."

"Then do you have a benefactor like my family does? Ours is my uncle but I've been doing a part-time job myself even though to help carry the weight.", Hayate asked him enthusiastically.

Hayate's manner of speaking almost reminded Sora of those housewives at the market place where he learned some recipes from. At least she seemed to show the same spirit. "No, we don't have one", Sora confessed. He took a long drink of his tea before speaking once more, "All of us have our own line of work according to our talents, pitching in for the family you know?".

"Really? That's amazing", Hayate was amazed. There were really such people in the world it seemed. Out of curiosity she asked, "What work do your sisters do for a living then?".

"Well, Hirari-nee-san is working with Miyoru-nee-san on a small fashion line as you should know from a month back, with Hirari-nee handling business and Miyoru-nee dealing with designing", Sora reminded the energetic girl of what he told her just one month ago. "Then there's Yukishiro-nee-san who works as a children's book writer. She also gambles on the side"

"Your sister gambles?", Hayate asked in disapproval.

"Sorry to say that she does.", Sora sighed. "It's okay though since its her spending money anyway", he dismissed the issue.

'What!?', Hayate thought incredelously to herself. 'Just like that?'

"I have two younger sisters as well, Akai is one of them. She studies in the same school as us in the elementary department, she's a part-timer at a cafe called Midoriya and a profesional fighter of sorts."

"Profesional fighter?!", Hayate interrupted again in alarm.

Sora gave her a calm look and said, "Yes, but she's usually hired just for dojo spars and the like. She has a history of fighting and one day she won against a dojo master. Word spread and now she sells her talents for fighting in the form of giving them a chance to beat her."

"Oh", Hayate couldn't believe her ears on how such a thing was allowed

"The youngest amongst all of us is Chiki, she doesn't attend school but rather home tutors herself. Chiki has a passion for art and some of her pieces actually attract attention enough to be auctioned for five to seven digit sums.", Sora finished with a mouthful of noodles.

"Your family must be really talented", Hayate told him.

"Not really", he replied quietly. Considering what they've been through, it would be no surprise that they had such profound skill in their fields.

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Silence visited them for five minutes as they ate their fill before Sora spoke, "May I ask what's troubling you Yagami-san?". The girl's reaction was that of slight surprise as she looked at him with questioning wide eyes. He was able to see the subtle signs of her discomfort and maybe stress but he could not pinpoint the source it seemed.

Hayate was surprised that he saw through it. She had become quite adept at hiding how she felt and not even the Wolkenritter could see through her facade. "How do you know I was troubled?", Hayate asked curiously.

"Experience", Sora simply explained in one word.

Hayate nodded in understanding though she really didn't and played with the remains of her noodles for a bit, trying to gather her thoughts on what to say. "Aoi-san", Hayate began, "sometimes... don't you feel kind of... lonely... working yourself so hard?", she finished sadly.

Sora listened as he drank the last bits of broth from his bowl and answered calmly, "No, not really."

"But don't you feel as if you're sealing yourself away from a normal life by doing this?", she questioned further. "I mean don't you think that you're keeping yourself from things like friends? Dreams? Romance?".

"I don't", he said

"Why?", Hayate asked.

"Simply put", Sora thought and took a sip of tea, "there is nothing to seal myself away from."

"Nothing?", Hayate was confused. She couldn't beleve that there was such a person.

Sora noticed her confusion and said, "I have no friends, no dreams nor do I plan to immerse myself in any relationship anytime soon. For now, all I want is to support my family. To me they mean everything. I don't have the time to socialize with people."

"So you don't have any friends?", Hayate asked him.

"None that I can recall to ever seeing as one", Sora answered in a disinterested manner.

"What about me?", Hayate asked with a pout.

"You?", Sora was taken aback by the question.

"Yes, me", Hayate asked with owlish eyes. For some reason she was really curious as to how he saw her. A friend? An acquaintance? A stranger? A nuisance? Since that night almost one month ago her she kept thinking of what he did for her. It stirred her to say the least and his intentions during their winter waltz intrigued her immensely.

Sora was a bit hesitant. He hated scenarios where he'd be hurting a girl, physically or emotionally. He couldn't even see himself lie to one either. Both traits came from growing up in a family of five sisters with a mind-set of keeping them happy. There were more but let's not delve deeply into that. Right now Sora was about to answer. He'd dealt with these types of scenarios before and the truth was usually the only way he knew how to deal with it. "To me...", Sora trailed off.

"Yes?", Hayate leaned on the cart's edge to hear.

"You're...", Sora whispered.

"Yes?", she leaned closer.

"A responsibility", Sora looked away in shame.

Hayate just looked at him. "A responsibility?", she asked him. It really hurt to hear that. For some reason, it especially hurt coming from him. Did she really expect something to come out from that dance in the snow? Honestly speaking, she didn't, but somewhere deep in her heart she must have been hoping. The hope and excitement that began when that boy asked her out three years ago. Nowadays, she ended up watching people her age couple up and she wanted to know, what it was that she had missed.

"Not the troubling sort though!", Sora quickly tried to cheer her up in his overly polite tone save a bit fidgety.

"It's okay", Hayate told him. "I understand", she got up to leave.

"Please wait, I'll explain what I meant!", Sora made to approach her.

"No, Aoi-san, you have to stay here to see the fireworks with your family.", she was a few meters away and turned back around to face him. "I'm fine, really", she gave him one last smile and left a stunned Sora by his stand.

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Sora felt really bad for what he had said but he could not undo it, all he could pray for was that he could be given a chance to set things straight. He drank some tea as he sat dejectedly at his stool on the cook's side of the cart. Beautiful fireworks began to light u the sky above where Sora's home was and the troubled youth wondered, 'Can Yagami-san see them as well?'

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At this point Hayate was already in her room and ready to go to sleep beside Vita. She smiled the small knight never did grow out of her bed. Hayate tucked herself in and was about to lay her head on her pillow when she saw fireworks. They were beautiful and lit up the night sky. She stared at them. She knew what or who those fireworks were for and cried. She knew that there could never be anything between them. They were just to be work buddies, colleagues on that project since the dinner meeting. Why did she even hope? Why did he have to do something to raise her hopes that high? Why did she even choose him?

Vita stirred from Hayate's gentle sobs and was immediately wide awake when she saw that her mistress was crying. "Hayate what's wrong?", she tugged at the girl's pyjamas to get her attention. Hayate just shook her head and cried more.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES: Err... how the hell did it end up like this?! Jesus, I must be high or something. Oh well, let's spice things up a bit eh? (Gets lynched by Hayate fan). Alright, alright. I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me! Please understand. Anyway thanks for reading and now the OMAKE.

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OMAKE:

"So is that the last of the fireworks?", Akai asked her little sister.

"Yup", Chiki happily ran out with a stick incense to light the fuse from a distance.

"Hey I should be the one to light that!", came the red-head from the side.

"No I should", little brunette Chiki pushed back.

"I'm older so I should do it!", Akai argued.

"Well I was the one who suggested lighting fireworks!", Chiki argued

"Oh yeah? well--"

While the two were busy arguing someone came over and lit the last one. The two younger siblings watched as it flew up into the dark heavens and painte the black canvas with bright colors. They both looked at the culprit and there stood their elder sister. "Miyoru-nee!", the two whined in chorus.

Miyoru just tipped her head to the side and said, "You two were slow".

OWARI!


	8. Lost logias: Sora meets magic

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Last chapter ended with Hayate crying. I'm sad. Scared actually. I can hear the Hayate fans coming to lynch me anytime soon.

**Scenebreakers 3 for POV or setting s witch 1 for flashback.**

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Vita was angry. It was two and a half weeks after she saw Hayate cry that night and she was still mad.

It was a week after vacation and the wolkenritter were making up for lost time. Each one was sent to a different mission and here was the little iron knight. Angry and on an escort mission to accompany a convoy transferring some rather dubious lost logia which have yet to even gain proper ranking under the TSAB's records. The route was long since it would be transferred by foot to ground headquarters from TSAB HQ which was a stretch but this was just part of a plan. A rather simple plan where dummy transports all headed for ground base were sent in different directions complete with hyped up security taskforce and all while the real transfer was to go down low key like any other supply mission with only one member of the wolkenritter and a couple of TSAB operatives for guarding. Unfortunately, the guards' mainstay was in a foul temper to be on the look out.

Why wasn't Hayate talking about it? Vita knew that even when her mistress spoke as if she was fine, those little things she did betrayed her sadness. Vita couldn't stand it. Everything was fine when they got back from the last assgnment. They got back to a wonderful feast made by Shamal which was seemingly a sign of good things to come for them. It all suddenly went down the drain when later that night, the little knight woke up to her brunette mistress crying her heart out in the dark. That vacation wasn't really a vacation with all the wolkenritter too hung up on what was wrong with the Yagami mistress to enjoy the free time.

The supply truck held the lost logias and shielding to prevent the lost logias' energies from leaking and making them traceable. It bumbled through the snow as a poorly coordinated hog on two legs could. The powdery white substance was very annoying now, not only to the convoy but especially to Vita. The snow and its cold reminded her too much of that night.

The convoy was so busy trying to make its way through the dunes of snow while Vita stewed in her fury, that no one noticed the mechanical eyes that watched and waited for an oppurtune moment.

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Sora was sitting at home all alone in his room as a sunday demanded. At this time, he was usually at the library, deeply buried in a mountain of books. Today though, he just opted to check out two dozen books to last him the week. Currently, his book of choice entailed Biology with a topic of evolution. He read and processed everyword but it was hardly the same pace he normally went at. Something was bugging him and he wasn't about to show it to anyone but himself.

It always felt so bad to turn down girls but it had to be done and he'd done so many times before. It hurt so bad everytime he saw a girl cry that he began to distance himself from girls. His polite mannerisms made him a loner amongst guys and earned him the position of class stiff. He wasn't a loner by choice, well actually he was, but it was due to circumstances. You see, the Aoi family was composed of no more than orphans. Even with his elder sisters' small clothing business, Yukishiro-nee-san's gambling winnings and Chiki-chan's painting sails. There were still a lot to answer to such as bills, taxes, house maintenance, Akai's medical bills, Miyoru-nee's business expenses, Hirari-nee-chan's extravagant spending habits, Yukishiro-nee-san's charity work, and Chiki's art materials were just some of the things he had to worry about. Schooling wasn't even taken into the equation but thankfully tuition was free. In light of all these, Sora took it upon himself to be the family treasurer and added to the income by running a noodle cart. Sad to say that none of his sisters did chores or cooked either so he had to take the spot of homemaker too.

With all the responsibilities, he just couldn't find it in himself to make friends and balance the priorities. In the end, he opted to avoid socializing altogether. At some point in time in everyone's lives though, attraction is inevitable. It was to Sora's displeasure that he sent every girl ,that liked him, packing away. There were only three so far and now Yagami-san.

Sora took of his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose. He hid his face in the pages of his books and rested his face against the cool smooth paper. "Are you alright?", Hirari asked as she stepped into her younger brother's room. "Chiki-chan told me that you didn't go to the library", the blonde smiled at the obsidian haired boy.

Sora sighed as he sat up on his seating pillow, put on his glasses and closed the book with a snap, "It's nothing".

"Oh really?", Hirari smiled slyly. "I remember you having similar symptoms two years ago during a love triangle", the blonde reminisced happily as Sora felt as if a hammer was brought down on his head. "Saeki-chan" -an anvil added to the burden- "and Amaiko-chan" - a sword was added to the mix.

"Nee-san", Sora turned to her, showing no signs of the mental bruises and stab marks she just inflicted upon him. "Please stop reminding me of such things. I just thank God I was able to settle all that quite pleasantly", Sora looked away rather distastefully. The incident left a bad mark when the two got turned down by him. The two went binge eating together but Sora somehow stopped them and got them to cheer up.

"So who is it this time? Another classmate?", Hirari sat down at the side of Sora's table by the door.

"It's nothing", Sora got up in turn and replaced the book he checked out along with the others in his display case by the table.

"Is it a girl I know?", Hirari fished carefully for an answer.

"Not really", Sora answered. He wasn' t exactly lying so he didn't mind this one since his sister had heard of Yagami but never really heard enough to even know her as to be considered acquaintances.

"Is it a girl I've seen?", Hirari asked again.

Sora got a bit fidgety and headed for his clothes cabinet in a bid to grab his jacket and leave. He didn't want his sisters involved in his affairs- uh wrong word.

Hirari knew she was getting closer. "Is it someone I've heard about?", she asked.

Sora stopped in his actions and sagged his shoulders in defeat when he found no other alternative. He couldn't full out lie to any girl, specially his sisters since they were the reason he was so nice to girls. "It's Yagami-san" , the tall teen admitted in defeat.

'Bingo' "When did it happen?", Hirari asked enthusiastically.

"Christmas eve", Sora answered as he put on a sweater, jacket and scarf.

"It's been two whole weeks since you said "no"?", Hirari became worried. "Did you end things quietly or did something happen?", the blonde was concerned , both for her little brother and Hayate.

Sora was two steps from exiting his door when he paused and stated, "she ran". With that Sora left with a mindful to think of.

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The conversation Sora had with his sister was short and lacking in substance but it sure gave him a lot to think about. Two weeks, it was too long. He had to break the ice and make sure Yagami-san was alright. He just hoped that she was dealing with this better than he was.

Sora looked about the frost covered streets and decided to let his mind wander. Thinking too much on it would just make his brain hurt. Then again, staring at the glaring white snow would render him blind. He looked about and noticed the suburban trails silent as could be. It was always quiet in their part of town. The ghost stories about the Aoi house would make sure of it. Sora sighed once again, he guessed shopping groceries would help him clear his mind. The fridge was starting to get dangerously emtpy anyway with only half a week's worth left.

He walked through snow blanketed streets, counting electric poles he passed out of boredom. He was just a couple of blocks away from the store when he saw Takamachi-san running past him in another street. If he remembered correctly, she was Yagami-san's friend. A worrying thought struck Sora, did something happen to Yagami-san?

He immediately ran after the long-haired brunette. It was pretty easy following her with the long side ponytail and being the only person besides him in the street but she was running pretty fast. Sora was actually running at his fastest just to keep up. Sora stopped to catch his breath just as Nanoha turned a corner into an alley. The tired boy was about to go and ask what was going on but when he turned the corner the girl was gone.

"What? Where did Takamachi-san go?", he walked into the alley and looked around. There was no way she could have left. He foot prints in the snow stopped right at the end of the alley too. He calmly looked about and tried to figure out how she left. The walls around weren't too high but not enough to climb over without a bit of struggle and there were no grips or trashcans to use for support. "What's going on?", Sora asked himself. Suddenly the ground beneath him glowed and opened up a four-pointed symbol(err...not sure if this was the mid-childan magic symbol, haven't seen Nanoha in a bit after all). Sora was blinded as bright light filled up every inch of his vision.

When Sora regained his sight a bloody battlefield of snow was what he saw. "What-",he didn't finish as he saw something in the distance. It was Takamachi-san. In a white dress, with a pink staff that had a large red jewel cradled in its golden head, her hair was tied in two ponytails with white ribbons. Now this wasn't the problem, the problem right now was that she was flying and shooting pink energy blasts at robots that looked like hey were out to tear her limb from limb.

Sora didn't understand what te heck was going on but if he wanted answers, he was gonna have to ask it from Nanoha. With that thought in mind, he rushed out towards the battlefield.

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Things were bad, real bad. Nanoha came as back-up but there were just too many for her to take out alone. Now Vita found herself being the lone protector of the cargo, the driver was safe with the cargo but out cold, she was able to save one of her two accompanying guards but she lost the other one. Vita screamed in anger over that thought as she smashed down another one of those annoying oval drones.

These machines had been popping out of nowhere and causing havoc. They were definitely casuing groundbase some headaches but nothing could ben done against them. They were untraceable and to make matters worse, they had anti-magic field generators.

Three of the gadgets from the right fired lasers at Vita. "Shield", Vita cmmanded as an attack repelling magic symbol deflected the attacks. "Swallow Flier", Vita retaliated.

"SWALLOW FLIER", Grahfeissen repeated his mistress commands. Five metal orbs the size of softballs appeared before Vita and she smashed them right into the three drones, completely destrying them without hope of being salvaged.

A scream from behind caused Vita to turn her head. The driver whom she had somehow saved was now dead with half a dozen smoking laser wounds as drones lifted the metal casing of the lost logias.

Vita was filled with rage at what they had done. To kill her comrade and right before her. It was inexcusable, both to her and to most anyone. "Grahfeissen: missile form!", Vita screamed.

Her magical hammer device transformed into its more powerful rocket propelled self as it repeated, "Raketenform!".

"Graaagh", Vita screamed as she obliterated the drone that carried the cargo with one hit. Its allies came to help but Vita was quick to counter. She spun and swatted all of them out of the sky with one swing. then she drove the mass of machinery on her hammer into the snowy ground which burst into a ball of flames. "Huff... huff... huff...", vita breathed hard as Grahfeissen reverted back to its hammerform. She already had wounds before dealing with those guys and more were most likely coming. If they wanted a chance of winning they would have had to find the leader which controlled these drones. Nanoha was on the case so she didn't have to worry about them being stopped. What the little red-head was worried about was that if she could hold on till then.

Vita took up her fighting stance once again as more drones came. She raised her hammer as the things were in striking range but paused as she heard a sound foreign to the humming of machines. It sounded like crunching snow and panting. She picked it off amongst the noise and located it with the ease of the trained soldier that she was. It was a guy in jogging pants, dirty white sweater, patched up jacket, colorful scarf and a most striking feature were his glasses. A civilian? Vita grit her teeth and made short work of the drones. She came out of it with a couple new burn marks from stray laser shots though.

When the guy was only five meters away, the drone switched their attention from Vita to the newcomer. The newcomer we all know as Sora made a mad dash for cover with laser fire snapping at his heels. "This feels too sci-fi", Sora grunted as he calmly gathered the situation he was in. Burning wreckage of machines in snow dyed red with blood. Check. Little girl with red hair and dress wielding a big iron hammer beating down robots. Check. He facepalmed, something very wrng was going on here. He's dealt with strange things before but this was beyond bizarre.

"Out of the way", Vita screamed as she smashed a couple drones towards Sora's sanctuary. Sora was able to hear the warning in time and run before the snow dune he took for cover was sent tumbling down into the ground with a small explosion.

Sora was sent falling flat on his face by the force of the explosion. "Ugh", he grunted as he got up with aches all over.

"Oi! You alright?", Vita confronted Sora.

The tall teen recognized the little red head and vice-versa. "You!", they both chorused.

"What are you doing here?", Sora asked rather calmly.

"That's my line", Vita rebutted with much more force.

The sound of humming machines reminded the little red head of the machines as she shoved Sora down. Lasers passed over the two and blew snow up a couple of yards away. "Too close", Vita irked. "Ahh! The cargo!", the little knight got back-up to check on her charge, only to see it being flown away by the drones. "No!", she flew after them.

Sora could only watch as the little red-head from the Yagami house swatted machine after machine away from her path. She was chasing that thing with the box. With that, all the teen could assume was that it was something important so he followed in hopes of being able to help.

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Up in the sky, Nanoha was faring a little better. She could hold her own quite easily against these drones but time was of the essence. Vita wouldn't hold out against those numbers with her wounds along with protecting the cargo and crew. The ace had to destroy the command unit before all was lost, the drones weren't making things any easier though. "Axel shooter", Nanoha commanded. Raising Heart repeated the command in its feminine voice as Nanoha sent magic powered shots pummeling right into half-a-dozen drones.

"There's no end to them", Nanoha panted.

"FLASH MOVE", Raising Heart called out. Nanoha disappeared as laser fire from multiple directions converged at where she was just before and hit other drones in a huge explosion which caught other drones.

Nanoha saw this and smiled, "Thank you Raising Heart".

"NO PROBLEM", Raising Heart replied cheerfully.

Nanoha's smile grew bigger and with that boost in morale she flew on to look for the control unit. She didn't move two meters though before she saw Vita flying after a certain drone making off with what the brunette recognized as the cargo. They were pretty far and making their wayfrom the battlefield. "Perhaps... It's going back to its base?", Nanoha thought. "I better follow, Vita is already heavily injured", Nanoha thought to herself. "Raising Heart.", the ace besseched her magical device.

"UNDERSTOOD. ACCEL FIN", with that Nanoha sped off towards Vita's location.

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Sora was running after them and prayed that they stopped soon. Unlike them who could fly, he was stuck running on the ground and dealing with the poor grip of snowy terrain. He huffed and puffed as he pushed his body to keep moving. It wasn't long till he heard the sounds of clashing metal and destruction. 'Did they stop?', Sora thought for a moment as he took a peek over the distance.

He saw Vita in her red battle dress with her hammer in hand in the middle of an army of those gadgets, hammering away at anything that got too close. What really caught Sora's attention was a rather big gadget at the end which just stood there, unmoving. Unlike the drones, this one looked quite formidable, being horizontally oval as opposed to its vertically oblong drones. It also had arms which held a rather large steel box. It was bulky with its heavy armor and had the same mono-eye camera on its front as the drones along with four laser emitters around said camera.

'She's in over her head', Sora looked unamused as he headed down there. He was sure she that her power was beyond anything he could imagine that little body could hold but with her wounds, those numbers and that big thing being a wild card. Sora's battle instincts told him something bad was about to happen.

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over at Vita's side, the battle was ragin and didn't look to calm down anytime soon. There were so many drones that vita didn't bother to count how many she took down anymore. "the guy who made these things was either planning this in advance or just really really bored", Vita grit through her teeth as she smashed a whole group of them down. If she remembered right, she had just taken down numbers 17 and 18. 'Great just another hundred or so to go', Vita scowled at the horde of machines around her.

One came from the side and went in for a kamikaze rush with laser fire but Vita just threw out her magical energy to absorb most of the damage and brought it down with Grahfeissen's missile form. The little red-head sensed a barrage of concentrated fire at her location and jumped to dodge the blasts. "Swallow Flier", she commanded whilst in the air. Four familiar metal orbs materialised before her as she sent one to each of the things that shot at her just then. Two of the offending bots were destroyed but the others two were able to survive the attack.

'Tsk! Am I losing power?', Vita thought to herself as she landed shakily. 'This isn't good. My wounds are beginning to affect my balance', Vita held on to grahfeissen more tightly, tryng to keep the feeling in her fingers alive. 'Even my hands are losing their strength', Vita mentally complained. It wasn't the time though as she dodged more laser fire and sent a couple rounds of swallow flier against the drones.

Vita flew up in the air to buy some time to rest as she checked her stores. "Three left", Vita counted her remaining cartridges. 'I shouldn't have used them up earlier', Vita thought back to the time she had to pull out those guards from the drones. She took three loads worth, six cartridges each, meaning eighteen in all. She should have taken a couple more if she knew that this was gonna be a long fight. "No choice", the iron knight grit her teeth. "Cartridge load!", the red-head commanded.

"EXPLOSION!", Grahfeissen gave a rather invigorated shout. High density compressed magic was hammered into the magical device as the empty cartridge was ejected with a trail of smoke.

'I'm gonna have to make this short', Vita glared at the huge control unit. 'I've gotta take it down', with that thought in mind, Vita shouted, "Swallow Flier".

"SWALLOW FLIER!", Grahfeissen echoed as the orbs came.

The drones flew up and Vita sent the orbs against them as she rushed through their ranks. Explosions occuring all around her as her attacks made their mark on each one. Vita ignored those that tried to approach her and headed straight for the control unit. She held Grahfeissen over head, ready to strike. Several meters away from the giant gadget, a much smaller drone got in her way and she hammered it straight down and tried to fly over it. She was a bit too slow though as the drone blew up before she could get a safe distance or put up a barrier. She tried to regain her bearings but was shot up by several gadgets as she flounderingly flew forward.

Sora, who was still quite far off, ran faster than he ever could in the snow. It was hopeless but still he tried to reach the little red-head. 'Someone has to save her!', he thought. He was powerless as he watched Vita plummeting towards the sea of machines. 'No', Sora thought. Just before Vita was within grabbing range of those drones though, a white blur came out of nowhere and scooped her up from the dive.

The white blur stopped high above the machines and Sora stopped cold in his tracks to get a better view of who saved the little red-head. 'Takamachi-san', he thought as he recognized the brunette hair tied in twin ponytails by white ribbons.

"Are you okay Vita-chan?", Nanoha gently asked the indignant knight cradled in her arms.

"Idiot, you didn't have to catch me. I can still fly on my own", Vita said as she stubbornly wiggled out of the taller girl's grasp. Vita floated rather haphazardly over the army of robots as she spoke, "Either way. Thanks for the save".

Nanoha smiled at the small show of gratitude. "No problem", the brunette half-giggled.

Vita pointed at the huge control unit with the crate of lost logias and explained, "That's the controller. It has the cargo that we're supposed to deliver. If you plan on fighting it then be careful. The little guys will get in your way if you go straight for the controller".

"Thank you Vita-chan", she patted the little knight on the head which earned a disgruntled snort from the little girl. "You should go rest for a bit. Even Grahfeissen looks worn out", Nanoha referred to Vita's magical device which had scorchmarks and scratches all over from the fight.

"Fine. There's a civilian on the field anyway, so I'll take care of him", Vita flew away to look for Sora.

"Right", Nanoha faced the army of gadgets. Their number was around forty-three or so. 'Vita must have taken down quite a number of them', the white clad mage mused. She held out her hand and called out her first spell, "Axel Shooter!".

"AXEL SHOOTER", Raising heart repeated and fired of a shower of pink energy balls into the small army of gadgets, effectively weakening their AMF generators and destroying eleven of the machines. The hail of energy stopped as Nanoha raised her magic device and commanded in her soft voice, "Cartridge load!".

"CARTRIDGE LOAD", Raising Heart announced as the mechanical sounds of compressed magic being forcefully injected into the magical device's system and the smoking trail of the ejected casing were both heard and seen. Nanoha brought Raising Heart to bear. It was time to show these drones and whoever made them why some people called her the "white devil".

Energy gathered before Raising Heart's sharp crown as Nanoha prepared her first and signature attack. The energy was reaching its maximum level as Nanoha called out the spell's name, "Diviiiine!". The energy suddenly compressed in itself and - "Buster!" - expanded in a brilliant stream of destructive energy that mowed through the ranks of the drones on the ground.

"Amazing", Sora watched from the ground as Nanoha continued her assault on the gadgets.

"What are you doing here?", an irritated voice questioned the tall teen from seemingly nowhere.

Sora looked up and saw Vita. "Vita, if I remember correctly?", Sora recollected as he saw the familiar face of the red-head albeit with wounds and soot.

Vita nodded in confirmation. "And you're that cooking guy right?", she asked in turn.

Sora nodded with and affirmative while Vita landed before him. She stumbled when her feet hit the ground but the tall teen was already beside the wounded knight in a blur of movement and caught her. Embarassed once more, the proud little knight pulled away indignantly declaring, "I can stand on my own. Geez, you people and your baby sitting".

"I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable", Sora apologized.

Vita gave him a flat glare. "Anyway, why are you here? This is TSAB operation space and besides that this is mid-childa. How did you even get here?", Vita interrogated.

"I don't know myself", Sora spoke as he looked Vita over for any wounds that could be treated with first aid which in turn caused Vita to get a little kmore than annoyed. "One moment I was running after Takamachi-san, the next I find myself here", he explained.

Vta tugged herself away from the teen and said, "Why were you running after her?". 'I thought he was going out with Hayate?", or at least Vita had that impression when he went to their house all dressed up.

"I was worried. I thought something was wrong with Yagami-san", Sora answered.

"Hayate? Why are you worried about Hayate?", Vita asked the tall teen curiously. She's been depressed for the past few weeks but how does he know?

"It's because-", Sora suddenly paused as a pained shriek resounded through the sky.

Both Vita and Sora looked up in horror and watched as TSAB's reknowned ace, "the white devil", Nanoha fell from the sky with smoke and blood trailing her wake. Vita screamed in disbelief and concern, "NANOHA!".

AUTHOR'S NOTES: One week of none inspiredness and bam. I'm back in the game, somewhat. Next chapter might be easy to predict might not. Anyway, please review at some point, it's getting kinda lonely. Oh well at least people are reading it. I hope. If you're reading this message right now then I thank you for reading the story. Mwah! I love you. If you're a guy then I'll just give you a bear hug and say your cool.

OMAKE:

Hirari was in the Aoi house tending to her business plans with Miyoru when as she thought of the girls that liked Sora. "Saeki-chan, Amaiko-chan... I know there was one other", Hirari wondered as she balanced a teetering sign pen on her nose.

"Sakura", a quiet voice spoke from behind and spooked Hirari, causing the pen she balanced to fumble around and fall down her face.

"Miyoru! Don't sneak up on me like that", Hirari complained as she saw her almost vampiric sister scan the business status.

"I apologize, I willl try to avoid that the next time", Miyoru bowed to the eldest Aoi and left.

It wasn't even five seconds after that the sou nd of running feet on wood was heard headed right for Hirari's room. "Nee-san I-", Akai paused her rude entrance into her eldest sister's room when they met face to face. The red-head's face contorted into one that almost looked like she was in pain and she began to shake. Soon she was on the floor and acted like she had seizures.

Hirari was absolutely worried. "Akai-chan are you okay? Are you alright? What's wrong?", the blonde asked in a panic.

Akai finally let out what was casing her the pain when a huge peal of laughter left her lips. "My god. Enough, Oh lord please. Hahaha", the girl laughed.

"What's happening?", Hirari asked with a clueless look plastered on her mustache drawn face.

END OMAKE


	9. awakening abilities: Sora meets magic II

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Had trouble with my kamen rider fic so had to take a looooong time to finish that one before getting back here. Hope my reader's haven't deserted me as of yet. I plan to bring in a rather and yet awesome ending to this little skirmish.

**3 scenebreakers make a change of POV or scene, 1 is just a flashback.**

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Nanoha flew through the skies, taking down any gadget that crossed her path. Lasers from behind caught her by surprise but did not hit her. She retaliated with her Axel Shooter and destroyed the pursuing gadgets with the deadly pink bolts of magical energy. The second wave from behind sought retribution and fired even more than the first batch. Nanoha took evasive maneuvers but the shots were getting harder and harder to dodge so she accelerated to pull away from them. She was even more surprised when she looked back and saw the gadgets were keeping up with her. "They weren't that fast before. They must get upgraded after every fight", Nanoha concluded. She made a sudden stop and shot upwards into the air. The gadgets weren't that maneuverable and crashed into each other in a large explosion. The surviving machines gathered up and flew up in pursuit of Nanoha firing lasers that threaded the skies. It was all meaningless though as Nanoha just gracefully weaved through them. When she reached what she thought was far enough from harm. The White Devil of the TSAB was about to let loose another of her devastating attacks. She aimed her magical device straight down at the gadgets that were climbing towards her and commanded, "Cartridge load!".

"CARTRIDGE LOAD!", Raising Heart echoed in its programmed feminine voice.

"I'll end it with this shot", Nanoha declared as the magical energies gathered and focused into a single point in front of Raising heart's head. Like her previous large attack. The energy shaped into an orb and pointed straight at the targets. "Diviiine!", Nanoha began and the energy pulsed and condensed itself. "Buster!", she finished with gusto as the energies released downwards onto her targets in a huge stream. It took out the remaining few dozens and Nanoha thought that those were the last. The White Devil knew better than to relaxe though as she spun and redirected her divine buster to attack the large control unit which held the cargo. The pink energies followed her will and made for the machine, she didn't notice the shadows which had crept up on her with their humming levitators until it was too late. "What!?", Nanoha turned around just in time to avoid fatal shots of laser but she could not avoid them completely and took deep hits to her side and below the shoulder. "Axel shooter!", she coughed up with blood as balls of pink light smashed into the machines to blow them up.

'Ugh!", Nanoha thought. 'This is pretty sloppy of me not to notice them. I should have noticed them. I could have dodged them. How did my senses dull so much? Even if they did I could have dodged them. I've dodged much closer surprise attacks than that.', Nanoha berated herself over such a thing so deeply that she didn't hear nor see Vita scream her name over the blood and smoke that surrounded her, her blood and what she sacrificed it for.

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"Nanoha!", Vita screamed in a mix of absolute shock and dread. It wasn't long before rage and thirst for vengeance took over. "Yaaah!", the angry little knight charged forward.

Even without verbal command, both of her remaining magic cartridges loaded and Grahfeissen cried, "EXPLOSION!". It then transformed, shedding its sledge hammer head with one that would remind people of a pile driver. "GIGANT FORM!", Grahfeissen announced.

"Hwaaaaargh", Vita let loose a battle cry that pierced the snowy skies. She swung her much larger hammer now and smashed it right up into the master gadget's under-side which seemed the least guarded and finished by sending it flying with a smashing horizontal swing. The huge machine went flying and so did the cargo in its hands.

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Sora ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He did a flying baseball slide and caught the plummeting Nanoha in a cloud of blood and snow. He immediately brushed away the snow from his face to make certain of Nanoha's condition. "Takamachi-san", Sora called out to her. "Takamachi-san", he repeated as he located the wounds with a quick scan. He looked at her face and saw her eyes, they had gone blank. This was very bad, she'd already gone into shock from the bloodloss. The wounds weren't fatal to instantly kill but at this rate she'd... Sora gripped her tightly. He didn' t like this at all. Without proper materials, he could do nothing but reduce the bleeding and try to properly restore her blood flow.

It wasn't far off that the tall teen spotted Vita limping towards them. She seemed as lifeless as the girl in Sora's arms right now. When Vita reached Nanoha's side and saw all the wounds which let blood dirty the brunette's pure white barrier jacket, she fell to her knees and cried. "Nanoha!", the little red-head cried into the brunette's chest. Sora could only watch and frown at the scene as the little knight released all her anguished cries for the world to hear. "I'm sorry!", she cried. "I'm sorry that I couldn't help you.", Vita cried over and over as Sora silently wrapped the wounds from bleeding further.

After a few moments of crying and dressing Nanoha's wounds, Vita stood up and wiped tears away from her eyes. She still had a mission to do. Help should be on the way and the only thing left to do was resecure the cargo. She tried to stand back up but couldn't. Sora knew that she was too exhausted to move and asked what it was she needed. Vita replied, "I need to resecure the cargo".

Sora stood up and told Vita, "I'll go get it. Just tell me where it is and I'll find it".

"No, it's my job", Vita protested and succeeded in raising herself to half a squat before falling back down on her rear.

"Don't be so stubborn. You can't even stand, so just let me handle it. Besides, the shouldn't be anymore of those things around anymore", the tall teen referred to the gadgets.

"Fine", Vita nodded. She pointed in the direction where she came from and gave instructions, "It's up there. Once you reach the place where I knocked away that hulking monstrosity, you should see a big black container. The cargo is inside."

Sora nodded, "Right. I'm going then".

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Sora didn't have trouble reaching the container that vita spoke of. He opened it with a bit of difficulty as it required him to enter a passcode. Thankfully hacking had been one of his hobbies even if there was a language barrier between his japanese self and the mid-childan interface. He opened the container doors till sufficient light entered it so he could see. Inside were two briefcases and nothing else. Both of them were fastened down to the platform like center by metal safeties. Sora checked them out and found a button. He pressed it and out popped a holographic interface. "This one seems a bit more complicated than the one outside.", the tall teen mused as data flickered against his eyes.

He figured it out in due time and pressed a couple of buttons to release the safeties. He approached to open them in order to affirm if the contents were still in one piece The two cases were identical but for some reason, his attention was directed to the one farther from him. He approached it and decided to check it first. His hand touched the cool metal surface of the case. He slid his hands under the lock and released them. The case opened and steam released from it, that was when a loud bang resounded outside the container. Sora ran outside and checked the surroundings. He stood stock still at what he saw in shock, "How?".

The lead gadget that Vita had hammered down was still operational. It towered over the remains of the drones it commanded. The large dent on it lessened the frightening visage though, courtesy of Vita and Grahfeissen. It was still for a moment and turned towards Vita and Nanoha's direction. "Oh no", Sora thought as he ran towards the girls. Behind him in the container, a light shined brightly without his knowing.

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Vita was just as surprised as Sora had been when she saw the huge gadget. She didn't have any strength left to fight and Nanoha didn't look to be in any position to be moved. She could do nothing but watch as the big thing hovered over to them so that it could finish them off. It stared at them for a moment and readied to fire its lasers. Vita closed her eyes to brace herself for the piercing lights to bore holes into her body but they never came. It seemed that the laser emitters it had equipped on were taken out by her last attack. It must have realized this after a short diagnostic because it now raised one of its less than intimidating arms to grab them.

A snowball came out of nowhere and caught the gadget right in its camera. It turned and saw Sora shaping up a new snowball to hurl at it. Sora did as he planned and socked another frozen projectile at the machine. Now the machine stopped in its actions and factored in Sora to the situation. What came out was an analysis that he was a bigger threat than two injured and exhausted mages. It turned and went after him instead.

Vita saw what was happening and turned to Sora screaming, "Run! You can't fight this thing, just leave us!".

Sora shook his head and said, "Don't move from there, I'll lead this thing away from you guys. Reinforcements should be here soon."

Vita nodded in surprise at his steadfast belief of back-up, it was true that she called for them awhile ago and would soon receive their aid, was he used to such combat that reinforcements were a regular factor to count on? If that was the case then he should know that-

"Enemy reinforcements should be reaching here as well", Sora told himself. Even if he pulled this thing away from Vita and Nanoha, other machines might attack the two at any moment now. He should make a run for it with the cargo. If that's what they're after, he could bait them with it.

He ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards the containers. He went in and didn't bother to even look at the case he had opened before slamming it back shut and taking the other one in hand. He ran back out the container and came face to face with the hulking gadget. It deployed arms much larger than the ones that were already out from its sides and made to swipe at Sora. Even with his lacking agility, Sora was able to duck under it and roll through to safety. He ran past but the gadget had just as much if not even more maneuverability as he, when it spun and smacked him right through the steel cases he held.

Sora went spiraling into a dune of snow, sending it up everywhere when he emerged from it. Aching and half coherent but still moving with only mere instinct and the thought of leading the monster away. It ended up as one of the most epic chases Sora had partaken of in his life but this time he was the prey and not the predator.

There was nowhere to hide within the field of snow. Everything was either white with snow or red with blood and fire. Either way, his dark hued clothes would stick out and it would spot him immediately. He just kept running, but it proved futile as machine did not tire as flesh did.

Sora slowed and that was all it took for the machine to catch up from behind and smack him once more, but this time with a solid hit. the hulking metal goliath scanned the place where Sora should have been but sensed no life anymore. With that, it decided to go after the two weakened mage from before.

Like before, one of the cases opened. It emitted a powerful light that was almost blinding.

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Vita was now sure of her and Nanoha's impending demise. The reinforcements were still five minutes away in her estimation and it only took this machine ten minutes to lose Sora. Sora! it suddenly hit the little red-head of what might have happened to him. 'Was he hiding? Did the gadget give up on him? Was he hurt? Did he die? Did he... leave them and ran away?'. She shook her head and collected herself, 'No! Sora would never abandon them'. There was no time to ponder this issue however as the huge gadget came at them at no haste.

It was analyzing them in case Vita and maybe Nanoha had recovered any of their battle capabilities since its short absence. This didn't seem to be the case from the gadget's analysis and it went on to raise a robotic arm the width of a redwood tree.

Vita Held Nanoha close, hoping to protect her at least. She wanted to save the girl who had saved her. As the robotic fist came down with the red-head prepared for the worst. The most miraculous thing happened. A huge thunking sound of flesh against metal resounded in the air with the crunching of said steel following upthe noise.

"Sorry, I'm not used to this yet", Sora's voice further excited her racing heart.

Was it really Sora? Vita took a careful look up at where the arm shadowed her form and sure enough saw hislankysilhouette against the darkness. His hand was clutching the steelwith a grip strong enough to bite into the armor plating. What caught Vita's sight most was the thing attatched to his right arm that hung just before her face. It was a white buckler like gauntlet with a red symbol that resembled a vague blood splattered rune. She looked up at him and started, "You..."

Sora didn't let her finish though as he said, "No time for that now.". He reached down with his right hand without losing an inch to the giant gadget's arm that threatened to crush them. He softly touched Nanoha's forehead and the blood that seeped through the makeshift bandages Sora had made slowly stopped flowing, leaving but stains of the blood already lost. "That should do for now", Sora pulled back his hand. He turned to Vita and commanded, "Stay somewhere safe". Again he reached out with his gauntleted hand and barely laid his fingers on the little knight's forehead before she felt strength return to her body.

Vita looked down upon herself in amazement as wounds closed an bruises receded in their sick violet hue to normally pale flesh. She looked up at Sora as he pulled his hand away and asked, "How did you just-".

"No time to explain, just trust me. Okay?", he gave her a reassuring smile. "Now go", he shoved her away gently but somehow the strength was enough to send Vita flying a few meters.

Sora turned to the big gadget and flung the huge arm out of his face. He dashed forward and let his gauntlet armed fist, fly right into the hulking structure's main camera. Unfortunately, it was built quite sturdy and suffered no more than a big crack that split its vision right in the middle. The tall teen didnt let up his assault as it was followed up by blow after blow to keep the machine from retaliating.

He then went for a left roundhouse kick but the machine blocked and was sent spiraling into the air. It stabilized on its levitators and kept in the air to analyze the sudden increase in Sora's combat capabilities. He was much more of a threat than initially anticipated, that was one definite thing.

The said teen didnt wait for his enemy to reorganize and wanted to end it as soon as he could. He tensed up his entire body like a coiled spring and launched himself at the machine a clear 10 meters above. Sora connected a flying thrust kick. In retaliation, the machine grabbed him by the torso and proceeded to deliver blows with its smaller arms that were better made to repair other gadgets than lift or attack anything. This proceeded to a mid-air grapple session involving the robot trying to bludgeon Sora to death with its puny metallic arms or crushing him into two while Sora trying to stay in one piece while swatting away as many blows as he could.

Sora swatted away a blow headed for his head and another that threatened to shatter his sternum. With his free legs, he kicked at the arm holding him to no effect but a slight tremor which spread throughout the arm. He smacked the armor plated arm again and gained no other result. The gadget now concentrated on snapping Sora in half rather than hitting any smaller blows as its past tries gained no success.

Sora felt the pressure on his midsectition increase and was not at all pleased. He tried to pry it back with his newly acquired strength but there was no way for him to gain a good grip on the mechanical fingers that held him. He slammed his fists again and again at the machine's arm, like before still no effect.

"Dont even think for a moment that I'll die here", Sora grit his teeth and smashed down on the arm one last time, putting all his strength and will into it. The part where the blow landed shattered into pieces. Sora grabbed what was left of the arm that clung on him and hurled it at its owner. It easily crushed the main body's armor and pierced the inner circuitry. It crashed into the snow and exploded.

Sora fell back onto the ground quite roughly, he wasnt used to landing from 30 feet in the air yet.

'Are those two okay?', he looked about. He saw Vita running towards him in her slightly damaged battle dress. He smiled, "Its okay now". With that he fainted from relief and exhaustion.

Vita heard Sora say the words as she caught his larger form. She wondered, were those words for her or himself?

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POSTNOTES: Urgh! Not satisfied with this chapter. I'll make it up to myself and my readers in the next one. College prepping and last year homework is gonna drive me up the wall I swear.

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OMAKE:

Vita was taking care of both Nanoha and Sora before Sora suddenly started muttering in his sleep.

"Red, red", Sora mumbled.

"Red?", Vita wondered and came closer, thinking he referred to her.

"Stop taking it out on my toaster. You burnt your own toast", Sora grumbled some more.

"How'd he know I burnt toast while trying to make my own breakfast!?", Vita looked horrified at the thought that someone besides her and the local firefighters found out. She was alone that time and very hungry, even if she was fortunate enough to avoid one of Shamal's morning disasters when she still couldn't cook. She took hold of Grahfeissen, thinking if she should eliminate the witness.

Meanwhile Sora was dreaming about his daily morning situation. Akai was denting the toaster by smacking it against the wall again after only her toast came out burnt.


	10. Tests and truths: Shamal meets her heart

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Been really lazy. Getting pumped up to the fact that I'll be getting a new computer next year. Yeah, I know it's next year but bear with me would you? I've always wanted to play dmc4 and all those other badass games that got ported to the pc from other nextgen consoles. I'm happy someone reviewed to get me working. I thought that this work was unwelcome so I began to drift away from it. I guess I grow unimpressed by my work as time goes on.

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Graagh!

Sora sent a spinning kick towards a mechanical drone and completely ripped it in half. He landed on his hands and knees, panting from exhaustion. He had been going at it against those mechanical things since he'd woken up about an hour ago. Blood and sweat caked over his skin even as every scratch and bruise he took healed almost instantly, he was pretty much out of juice. Half-a-dozen drones descended on him as he dodged incoming laser fire but failed to dodge the mid-air assault of high-velocity droids. Sora fell to the ground once more in a heaped up roll, coughing out at the irregular passage of air in and out of his lungs. He was sure he had just gained two broken ribs at least but when he reached for them, they immediately mended.

He struggled up to one knee and watched the drones circling him like vultures. "This is endless", he cursed. He dodged a dive-bombing drone and leapfrogged over it as he expected the follow-up laser shots to the suicidal attack.

"He's learning", a blue wolf stood on all fours as it watched what was happening in the containment room below from one of the many viewing windows.

"Yes, that was the same attack from the batch 52 minutes ago.", replied a pink-haired woman in an officer's military uniform.

"Still, for him to keep going like this. That magical device on his hand must be quite powerful. Wouldn't you agree Signum?", the wolf said as it locked its gaze on the white and red gauntlet on Sora's arm.

The pink-haired woman we know as Signum shook her head and said, "I'm not so sure that what you said is quite right Zafira."

Zafira, the guardian beast, looked back up at the humanoid guardian program and questioned with slight curiosity, "What do you mean?"

Signum narrowed her eyes as Sora planted a drone from 30 feet in the air with enough force to drive it through the ground if the floor weren't made of reinforced mid-childan alloy. "What I mean is", she began, "The power of that gauntlet is truly genuine and most novices would be quite capable of dealing with those machines with that power. The fact is that I expect them to be desperately looking for a way out right about now, not planning a strategic military countermeasure."

Zafira could only raise a canine brow at this before a resounding crash and alert buzzers brought his attention back to the battle in the containment room. Smoke filled the whole view of the mirror and the guardian beast began to wonder what had caused all the commotion. Signum's words began to fill Zafira's mind once more as he tried to figure out what she said. True, the boy looked like he was planning something. It would most likely be escape like most other specimens exhibited. The boy tried earlier and failed, but failure never stopped his predecessors from trying even if it was a dead end. Zafira knew that reinforced Mid-Childan alloy would block pretty much everything except S rank attacks and above. The glass windows they watched from were shock-proof to the point it could take shrapnel that flew at around 100m/s. As protection for magical attacks, AMF barriers were also installed around the panes. Escape was impossible.

The smoke in the room cleared. It revealed the tall teen still in the containment room with his clothes suffering damage from the shrapnel and stains of blood from non-existent wounds that were supposed to be exposed beneath the ripped sections. On his right arm where the white and red runed buckler was, a grotesque dark green shield took its place. The most astounding thing being two majectis pairs of white wings that extended from the ugly looking war-worn shield.

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Back in a control room above the containment room, all hell was breaking loose. "What's going on?", a female mechanic with long-brown hair and glasses paniced. Control panels were fizzling up while some exploded.

"We're not sure Shari-san", one of her male co-workers answered.

"We've lost power to the drone units!", exclaimed another female voice.

"The virtual drive is completely offline. We can't generate anymore combat drones. The manual hangar doors won't open either for the stocked ones.", reported the same male colleague.

"The back-up generator is too preoccupied with powering the AMF barriers and emergency lights.", another male researcher.

Shari took one look at the boy and asked herself, "What did this man just do?"

Down in the containment unit, Sora stared up at the dent he had made. If his calculations were correct, by following the trail of lights and watching the spawning points of the drones, the main power line should've been right where he hit it just around the north-western part of the roof. He looked down at his arm and flexed his fingers with much difficulty. "Not much stamina left.", Sora mumbled to himself before falling to his knees. His vision was blurring and breathing in itself was becoming difficult. "Che", with that final cuss, Sora fell back into oblivion.

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Hayate and Fate watched from the monitor on the Yagami mistress's desk. "Aoi-san is really being put through a lot", Fate said with a disapproving shake of her head.

Hayate looked very worried as she spoke, "We can't do anything. The higher ups are demanding a full analysis on the lost logia's combat capability. Even with Harlaown-san's influence amongst them, all she could manage was the delay of that lost logia's forced extraction."

Fate nodded, "I know. I was there when mother talked to the committee.". She suddenly had a serious face on, "If they had pushed through with the forced extraction, there would've been no telling what the effects of such a process would result in."

"I heard that the only reason that the extraction was suspended was due to that reason.", Hayate turned to the blonde enforcer.

"Yes, it was", Fate replied. "That is why they had it analyzed both combat-wise and structurally as well."

Hayate looked grim as she watched the replay of the last hour's footage on the screen, "With such a high combat capacity even in novices' hands. I'm sure that the committee won't think twice about a forceful extraction now."

Fate shook her head, "Anyone would be, after seeing _that.". _Fate watched the screen footage which showed Sora's buckler changing from white and red to a deep blackish green. White wings sprouted out as he jumped an incredible height. The next seconds were a blank as static took the place of the video.

"Nevertheless", Hayate stood up with a serious expression on her face that matched Fate's, "We have to do everything we can from hurting Sora-san.". Fate was taken aback by the force behind Hayate's words, but her stunned expression turned into a soft smile. That boy was her friend after all, he was their friend. Besides, he had saved the lives of both Vita and Nanoha.

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Shamal was in the infirmary, reading from the report on Sora's condition with a worried expression. She laid down the clipboard on her desk which had over half-a-dozen files and folders covering everything from reported possibilities of new illnesses to updated medical records of patients. Shamal ran a hand through her short blonde hair and heaved a sigh. "Sora-san", she groaned problematically.

The medical knight sunk in her seat as she thought of the tall teen. The first time she had met him was in a supermarket, he had given her a recipe for pumpkin soup which was delicious. Soon after that, she had found him helping his sister out of a brawl. She had asked him to teach her how to cook. In all aspects, Shamal saw him as a normal person, she didn't suspect for on moment that he'd be in the same world she lived in. A world of magic and danger was how she would've described it if it didn't sound so much like something from TV, because this was real life. If she had to describe the world she lived in right now, it would be a rather militant one.

The blonde slumped on the desk and pulled the clipboard containing the report close to her face. "Aoi Sora", she read, "Specimen # 00, for the Lost Logia Galahad. Merits include a large supplement in raw magical power, immense physical strength and amplified regeneration. Also includes the capacity to take other forms as noted by model # 01 designated as Aegis, noted for immense power in both physical and magical. Side-effects include extreme fatigue.".

The blonde medical knight stood from her seat and approached a ward guarded by two mages. They blocked her path with their issued staves while on of them said, "Sorry Shamal-san, it's procedure". Shamal just smiled in understanding and showed her ID. "Right", the guard nodded after an quick inspection for authenticity. "Please enter.", the guard nodded to her as both stepped aside. Shamal passed with a quick thank you.

Shamal watched the unconscious young man as he flickered between the waking world and the sleeping one. Her smile turned into a frown. His current condition was cause purely by fatigue which was very odd. No one could push themselves to the limit that fatigue would keep them at bed rest for so long, she surmised that it was the regeneration. It pushed physical capacity for healing at an insane pace that it drained his stamina. He may have been unwounded but he was still dying of over extending himself.

She took out a penlight and opened his eye. She checked for any type of reaction to the light, there was which showed he was doing just fine so far. She checked his pulse, it was a bit fast but still within safe boundaries. Shamal sighed, she didn't know why but her heart held mixed emotions knowing Sora was here. She felt both worry and comfort all at once. Worry because at this rate Sora might die, but she felt some kind of comfort that she couldn't explain as well.

"Shamal?", a familiar voice reached the medical knight's ears. She turned and behind her was Hayate in all her military glory.

"Oh hello Hayate.", Shamal greeted her brunette mistress. "What brings you here?", she asked as she added a couple of notes into her clipboard.

"Not much.", Hayate said as she took a seat by Sora's bedside. "I'm just visiting Sora-san."

"Mmm...", Shamal nodded, "I take it you've read the report?".

Hayate answered sadly, "Yes, I have."

Shamal watched her mistress and began, "I know what you feel Hayate.". "This isn't what a normal civilian should be experiencing. Combat, experimentation and now he's on the verge of death.", Shamal shook her head.

"I know", the look on Hayate's face softened as her hand unconsciously reached out for the teen.

Shamal took note of this and asked, "Do you know this person?".

The brunette smiled a bit and explained, "Yes, this person is a classmate of mine. You know, the one that I took out to a meeting."

"I see", the medical knight smiled. 'So he was the one that cooked dinner for everyone that night.", Shamal recalled, 'Just as I'd expect from someone who was able to teach me.'. She took one look at Hayate and thought that maybe the girl wanted some privacy with her friend, she looked quite concerned after all. In the middle of it all, another feeling popped up though. Something like a foreboding pain. She ignored it and told the girl, "Well I'll be reporting his status to the R&D department now. If anything happens please contact me.". With that, Shamal walked out of the ward.

Hayate was now left alone with Sora inside the ward. She didn't know how to handle this situation with all the awkwardness from last time. Last time, she felt hurt that he saw her as a burden, while she saw him as someone to open up to. Maybe as a friend, a brother or even more than that. She felt a sort of attraction to him since that dance in the snow. There were rare moments the two of them shared in the council room. Her being the president while he was her personal assistant as drafted by the dinner party that night. He was brilliant in both intelligence and social capacity. It was thanks to him that the plan for an inter-school fair was passed. His ideas and motivational speeches had moved everyone to agreement, even the municipal council and the PTA members who were present.

Besides such great achievements he was still a simple person. It reflected in his work as a food cart vendor but also in that one instance when they worked late into the night over the financial detail of the fair.

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Hayate was typing the last of her planned allocations for the fair. Security was top priority, but food and entertainment came at a close second. Right now, she was hesitating between the budget for the rides and stands. The money for he rides was a bit high, but it was to assure quality materials were used in construction and proper maintenance would be available for the people's safety. The materials for the student stands required a bit as well, such a large scale event would require so many stands.

The brunette thought it over and sighed. She looked over to the window to get her head thinking a bit more clearly but she saw Sora sitting by it, reading a book. He was there to recheck the values and act as an advisor during the decision, Hayate smiled at the thought. The teen was very busy as far as she knew. She had visited his home before when it related to work and it wasn't much different from home. A large house that felt nostalgically empty, but warm.

She got up and went over to Sora and asked, "So what's that book all about?"

Sora was surprised that he jumped in his seat and fumbled with the book before collecting himself well enough to face Hayate properly. "Oh um. Has break already ended? I'm sorry, I was preoccupied with my book.", Sora apologized.

Hayate giggled and said, "No, it's okay. Break ended awhile ago, but you looked like you were enjoying your book so much I couldn't find it in myself to tear you away from it for something so simple."

Sora looked a bit clueless and fixed his glasses. "Still, please inform me next time", he told her politely as he sat down in the chair before the computer that Hayate was working on earlier, ignoring Hayate's protests. The lanky teen took the mouse in hand and began to click and scroll through the report.

Hayate sighed, it was useless to dissuade Sora when he had his mind made up. She picked up the book he was reading and couldn't help but feel that the contents fit the reader's image so well, it almost made her laugh.

"Yagami-san.", Sora called her attention.

"Yes?", Hayate replied as she went to his side before the computer to get a view of what he was working on.

Sora scrolled the page up a bit and stopped at where she was working on last. "The budget as it is won't fit and I believe that given the current allotment only the stands section can be reduced.", Sora pointed out.

"I've already thought of that but if we reduce it then we can't pay for the used space. The municipality still requires a certain fee for usage of the central park after all.", Hayate frowned in concentration. "I was thinking of reducing the allotment for rides but we might need the extra funds to ensure passenger safety with property maintenance and quality tools.", he explained.

Sora rested his chin on his hands in thought, "True, but we can actually lower the allotment budget of the rides. I know some people who work for a bit less than what we're expecting and they do a wonderful job.".

The council president looked at her assistant and asked, "Really?".

Sora assured her with the smallest of smiles, "I guarantee it."

Hayate smiled and answered exaggeratedly, "Then I wholeheartedly approve.". Sora typed in the changes and began to recount the values. The brunette smiled as she watched the teen worked. She picked up the book Sora had been reading and flipped over a few pages and read the contents.

When Sora finished the changes, he turned to Hayate and found her reading his book. His face flushed as he pulled the book away from her hands.

Hayate was a bit taken aback by the sudden action. Sora had always been a calm and collected person as far as she knew, for him to act like this was really a surprise for her. She knew the reason though and had a rather amused smile on her face when she spotted his face getting slightly red.

"It's not polite to touch other people's things without permission.", Sora complained hotly as he quickly stuffed the book in his bag.

Hayate smiled, she knew that he wasn't really angry. She had spent too much time with him to not know the slightest hints from his body language. The way his hand kept resisting the urge to scratch his scalp and the voice which should've been low and had been slightly higher, giving away that he was nervous, more of embarassed.

"I'm sorry, I was just curious. The book held you're interest quite a bit and it piqued mine as well.", Hayate apologized with a giggle.

Sora sighed, "Please don't laugh.".

Hayate found it funny that he looked so docile as he was right now, holding his bag to himself, hopelessly trying to shrink away against his great height. It was almost cute in a way, like a kid who got caught he liked someone. "I'm not", Hayate laughed.

"Yes, you are", Sora replied in irritation.

"No really, I'm not.", Hayate broke into giggles. It was a bit much for her to imagine just how obssessed Sora was with cooking. Actually, the book wasn't about cooking in itself.

Sora gave Hayate an accusing look as she laughed freely now. "Okay, I am laughing but not because of what you think.", Hayate explained to the taller teen. She saw Sora look clueless through her tears of laughter and said, "I just find it a little funny that Sora-san whom I've forever known to be the epitome of calm can get so nervous.".

Sora looked even more embarassed as he gripped his bag tighter and the tinge on his face grew to even brighter shades. "I never found a reason to get so nervous so far, is all.", the normally calm teen stared at anywhere but Hayate.

"Well, if you think you've found one then I'm sorry to disappoint you.", Hayate replied in that playful tone of hers. She approached him and made a grab at his bag that Sora reached out for as well. There hands met on top of the bag and both found themselves quite close to each other.

The first to move of the two was the male. He let Hayate's hand go and stepped back, "I'm sorry, I'm just a bit... secretive about my hobbies.".

Hayate's smile was warm as she pulled out the book. It was all about preparing warm beverages like coffe, tea and hot chocolate. "Well you don't have to.", She opened the book once more and found the various notes Sora had made in modification to certain concoctions. She looked at him once more and said, "I think it's wonderful. You should be proud".

Sora didn't quite know how to react. This hobby of his was so secret even none of his sisters knew about it. Sure they knew he cooked like a professional chef, but to obssess over it to some extent was something he made sure they never knew. Always, was his culinary skill attributed to talent by others. "Thank you", he muttered unsurely.

Hayate approached him and gave back the book with a smile, "Here, I hope I can have a cup one day."

The taller teen took hold of the book with his fingers and nodded, "Sure."

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Hayate snapped out of her recollections as a hand held hers. It was Sora, he was moving about in his sleep. "He's in pain", the brunette noticed the taller teen's face showing more than just mild discomfort, almost distraught. "I better get Shamal right now.", she went to get to the communications panel.

Sora held tight though so the brunette could not move. Brown eyes met with honest blue. Hayate hadn't notice how light they could be in the right lighting. She had only seen him once with those contacts off a couple of times and she had mistaken them for being black the first time she saw them. "Sorry.", Sora mumbled in his half-sleeping state. He looked to still be in an anxious state. "Please don't leave me.", his voice began to waver. He sounded as though he was pleading.

Hayate was torn right there. To call Shamal or to stay by this young man's side. "I'll be better. I won't be bad anymore. Please.", he pleaded, "Just stay.". The commanding officer watched in wonder as a tear drop slid down from the corner of the usually stoic young man's eyes.

She gave the young man a worried smile as she knelt down at his side. With both hands wrapped around his, her gentle voice spoke. "I'm here. I won't leave you.". The response was almost immediate. Sora visibly relaxed as his hold on Hayate softened. Hayate smiled as she began to soothingly caressed her thumb over the smooth skin on the back of Sora's hand. This young man who was her nothing more than a distant classmate but roughly a few months ago had somehow wormed into one of the most untouched places in her heart. She was thankful at that because she had almost forgotten that that part of her existed as well, the part that wanted to be a normal girl.

"I'm definitely holding you to that coffe now Sora-kun.", Hayate smiled to herself. She contemplated otherwise though when she saw the peaceful expression he had on his face.

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POSTNOTES: Sorry for not writing for so long to my dearest fans. *crickets chirping in the air*. Ooooooooooookay, so maybe I'm a little late. Scratch that, a lot late. Maybe this chapter ain't up to snuff or making enough sense. Still, I promise the next chapter will explain all about Sora's lst logia's history. Anyway, hope to see you guys in next chapter. If I get enough reviews to motivate me -_-.

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OMAKE:

Outside the ward, Shamal stood silent while Hayate was inside watching over Sora. The medical knight had forgotten some papers midway and came back to retrieve them. In the process of collecting said paper work, she heard the small ruckus caused by Sora's nightmare induced struggles and went to help. She had just opened the curtains by a tiny peek but stopped dead when she saw Hayate comforting the young man. For some reason, she couldn't bear to enter the ward at that sight. She backed away and stood where she currently was.

Seeing the look on Hayate's face was a surprise. She always had a gentle look to her when she talked with the wolkenritter, but her expression then reminded her of long ago, when Hayate still didn't know the truth. She couldn't tell the difference until now, but that expression she had seen on Hayate's face was the one she showed them before she became involved with the bureau. That expression of kind gentleness was the same one from when she was still a normal young girl.

Shamal wasn't disturbed by those facts however. She was disturbed by the fact that it hurt to see Hayate with Sora like that.


End file.
